Re: What a surprise.
...become pre-eminent linux malware hosting platform.
Indeed ...
systemd is nothing but a developer endorsed registry-class virus set up inside Linux distributions.
From a post here at ElReg, May 2017:
"Systemd also has its dirty fingers into other parts of the system. As a replacement for sysvinit is is supposed to be an init system, but because its scope goes far beyond the initialization phase (and it doesn't let you take the good without the bad) it has become a dependency for many userspace programs that should never have any reason to interact with the init system at all, making it harder to use those programs on a non-systemd system."
It is the ideal vector for all sorts of nastry stuff.
This new discovery is just a trial run.
The next one or the one after that will probably not be noticed.
Want a safe system where you can audit everything properly?
Get rid of this systemd crap ASAP.
O.