this post was submitted on 21 Mar 2026
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Hi, there!

Newbie question here: basically, the title. Perhaps what I'm asking is pretty obvious, but I'd like to double-check with the community on this.

I use Discover on my Debian KDE Plasma set-up, with Flatpaks enabled (but not Snaps). Sometimes, I come across apps (I did just yesterday, searching for translation apps to replace DeepL), that have according to its page, an unknown author and, sometimes, even an unkown licence, but which do require access permission to the whole system (this latter requirement applying specifically to Deb packages, from what I've seen).

Under these circumstances, is it safe to assume that such apps will still be safe because of the fact that they appear listed on Discover (in other words, is Discover a guarantee of safety for the apps it shows, as in, some type of checked or proved content), or should I still be wary of potentially malicious software included on it?

Thank you very much in advance :)

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[–] DataCrime@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 1 day ago

Also… not that any risk mitigation strategy is going to save you 100% of the time. But a translation app sounds like something you could run in a VM to effectively isolate. Hell, if it’s lightweight enough and you have $100 you could run it on a light weight SBC like a Pi and physically air gap it.