To be clear, if I recall correctly the spyware was in the package of (usually rubbish) software that came with the drivers for Windows (and maybe also macOS?).

To be clear, if I recall correctly the spyware was in the package of (usually rubbish) software that came with the drivers for Windows (and maybe also macOS?). The Linux drivers are upstreamed in the official source tree and there is no way in hell you would be able to do that with spyware.