On Fri, 25 Nov 2005 21:04:45 +0100, "Bjorn Damm"
<bjornd.invalid@rixmail.se> wrote:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/story/0,3605,1650295,00.html

<quote>
Scientists, be on guard ... ET might be a malicious hacker

Ian Sample, science correspondent
Friday November 25, 2005
The Guardian

As if spotty teenagers releasing computer viruses on to the internet from 
darkened rooms were not enough of a headache. According to a scientific 
report, planet Earth's computers are wide open to a virus attack from Little 
Green Men.
The concern is raised in the next issue of the journal Acta Astronautica by 
Richard Carrigan, a particle physicist at the US Fermi National Accelerator 
Laboratory in Illinois. He believes scientists searching the heavens for 
signals from extra-terrestrial civilisations are putting Earth's security at 
risk, by distributing the jumble of signals they receive to computers all 
over the world.
The search for extra-terrestrial intelligence (Seti) project, based at the 
University of California in Berkeley, uses land-based telescopes to scour 
the universe for electromagnetic waves. Just as stray radio and TV 
broadcasts are now zooming away from Earth at the speed of light, the Seti 
scientists hope to pick up stray signals, or even intentional interplanetary 
broadcasts, emitted from other civilisations.
All signals picked up by Seti are broken up and sent across the internet to 
a vast band of volunteers who have signed up for a Seti screensaver, which 
allows their computers to crunch away at the signals, when they are not at 
their desks.
So far, the only signals detected are bursts of radiation from stars and a 
murmur of background noise left over from the big bang. But, says Dr 
Carrigan, improved telescopes and faster computers mean scientists are ever 
more likely to detect a signal from extra-terrestrials.
In his report, entitled Do potential Seti signals need to be 
decontaminated?, he suggests the Seti scientists may be too blase about 
finding a signal. "In science fiction, all the aliens are bad, but in the 
world of science, they are all good and simply want to get in touch." His 
main concern is that, intentionally or otherwise, an extra-terrestrial 
signal picked up by the Seti team could cause widespread damage to computers 
if released on to the internet without being checked.
Computer scientists argue that to hack a computer, or write a virus that 
will infect it, requires a knowledge of how the computer and the software it 
is running work: a computer on Earth is going to be as alien to the aliens 
as they would be to us. But Dr Carrigan says there is still a risk.
Rather than dismiss his concerns, Dr Carrigan wants the Seti scientists to 
build safety features into their network to act as a quarantine so any 
potentially damaging signals can be trapped before they infect the internet.
</quote> 

The internet is already infected by all the spam running thru it. A
bit more would not even be noticed! Maybe if it was a 2 way connection
we could send some spam to ET and they could help us find a way to
stop it.