Alien Hackers?

[Plat]

Keeping Watch for Interstellar Computer Viruses

Microsoft may have to fork up big bounty bucks trying to unearth future hackers, particularly when they are light years away on distant worlds.

Add one more worry to the computerized world of the 21st century. Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign -- one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos.

These are concerns that deserve attention explains Richard Carrigan, Jr., a physicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Illinois. Those engaged in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), he contends, should think about decontaminating potential SETI signals.

The so-called "SETI Hacker" hypothesis, Carrigan argues, is an issue of interstellar discourse that should be taken seriously. We should exercise caution when handling SETI downloads, he said

http://www.space.com/scienceastronom...rs_031111.html

interesting article

[Plat]

can y'all imagine that like a super advanced alien civilization having internet, like the lay-out of the sites and the message boards and stuff like that would be on another realm ish.....imagine their super advanced computers, imagine their MSN's and stuff and their super advanced internet services that would beat the crap out of nextel, verizon, sprint combined, microsoft would meet its match...imagine their game consoles damn!

[semi-sentient]

Ridiculous.

Does Microsoft (I say MS because they are the most affected by virii--but I'll include other OS's for the sake of completeness) transmit their source code to random star systems? Did we include all the RFC's in subsequent submissions? Maybe that information was stolen by some of those spy UFO's. Without knowledge of the operating systems, protocols or underlying architecture, it's a little difficult (actually impossible) to write an effective virus. And what type of harmful information could they possibly carry? What are they going to do? Erase someone's hard drive?

"SETI Hacker" hypothesis

^^^ dumbest thing I ever heard.

[xbck1]

Hi, I'm an alien from a highly advanced civilization who has the capbility of traveling interstellar distances and living to tell about it, and I'm here to hack into your computer and erase your hard drive. But only after downloading every single file on your computer and sharing it with my wonderful collegues, zPepht and Kkbolnzk.

I'm also planning on sticking this little metal doohickey up your rear, but just for the fun of it.


PS: Microsoft sucks.

[Alex W.]

They would have to write them for one of our operating systems, and they would have to find out about the OS, write the virus, and send it back before the OS could become obsolete.

A bit unlikely, then.

[mike alexander]

A for Andromeda, Fred Hoyle.

[Evil_Bomber]

I've read this before and it is quite ridiculous. Apparently whoever wrote this doesn't understand the difference between data and instructions (something you would learn in your very basic computer science classes). Data cannot harm a computer because it does not do anything. Instructions that are run (either through some other program such as an interpretter or compiled/assembled directly into a low-level machine language) can cause problems if it is programmed to do so.

The only way data can cause problems is if the data is read and used by another program that is run in a way that can be harmful. One of the more common ways to do this is using a buffer-overflow method, but this is something that can be protected against if the program in question is written or patched properly.

[Zamboni]

Hold your horses... I'm being hacked by an ALIEN (from a galaxy far away)!!! The lag is incredible!

[Astronot]

I've read this before and it is quite ridiculous....

Do you mean to say that Bill Gates isn’t an alien and Windows isn’t a virus?

[Sigma_Orionis]

I find it highly improbable because in IT there are so many ways to get things done that is very easy to make things incompatible.

Despite the fact that things have standarized quite a bit in the last 10 years, there still a lot of room for incompatibility especially whenever there is a technological change in the field.

Do you know how many Network Communication protocols have come out in the last 25 years? at least 10 and all of them incompatible with each other. Only in the last 8 years we can say there is one (TCP/IP) that everyone is compatible with. However, for all we know, in 20 years there will be another and totally incompatible standard. Particularly because it's quite a fast moving field.

Even nowadays we still have several ways to represent non-numerical information in a computer (ASCII, its potential succesor: Unicode, EBCDIC).

Finally the mathematical theory on how a computer operates, which was done (among others) by John Von Neumann is not by any means the ONLY way a computer should operate, it's just the way we found the most convenient.

IMO, In order to make something like an Extra-Terrestial computer virus you'd have to have pretty good knowledge on how our computers work, now that knowledge is not by any means secret, but I think it would be pretty hard to believe that Aliens 50-100-1000 years in advance sent signals to 'Hack' a data processing system that didn't exist and didn't know how it was going to be (given the above argument).

OTOH if this aliens are here and learned how our IT technology is, and wanted to 'Hack it', well I think they'd have other less subtle means.

[Alex W.]

Hold your horses... I'm being hacked by an ALIEN (from a galaxy far away)!!! The lag is incredible!

Aliens attack humanity's computers!

Challenging man to a contest for his very FATE!

The game of QUAKE is the battleground!

[dvb]

Hold your horses... I'm being hacked by an ALIEN (from a galaxy far away)!!! The lag is incredible!

Indeed. The ping times would be outrageous! Also don't forget that by the time an alien civ gets a packet from us, and send something back, the networking standards that we use today will be completely different just as Sigma_Orionis said. IPv6 is slowly replacing todays current IPv4 implementation.

It's more likely someone on PX would be able to hack our internet. So why haven't they already?

[Alex W.]

Don't give Nancy ideas, she'll say we're all chatbots.

[Plat]

i want to use an alien computer it would be like a million times better than mine

[Musashi]

I bet they say the same thing about our computers...

[ToSeek]

A for Andromeda, Fred Hoyle.

I had the same thought, but then those here on Earth receiving the signal were following the alien's instructions.

[Zamboni]

Well at least there's one thing we know: the Microsoft monopoly can't extend far beyond the sol system if they rely on the internet... Take that Bill Gates!!! Muhahahahahahaha

[Plat]

Well at least there's one thing we know: the Microsoft monopoly can't extend far beyond the sol system if they rely on the internet... Take that Bill Gates!!! Muhahahahahahaha

hey bill gates is the richest guy on the planet but he cant be the wealthiest guy in the galaxy

[Amadeus]

Am I the only one worried about the motives we give the aliens?

When they arn't messing with cattle they're sticking probes up our asses and now they might be messing with our computers!

I can see 2 reasons for this

1) All aliens are intergalactic S&M fetish nerds with a animal fixation.

or

2) People are being paid a lot of tax money to talk out of their probe hole.

hmmmmm tough choice

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

All aliens are intergalactic S&M fetish nerds with a animal fixation.

Hmmm ...

Sounds like my Ex-Girlfriend ....

:roll:

[Amadeus]

All aliens are intergalactic S&M fetish nerds with a animal fixation.

Hmmm ...

Sounds like my Ex-Girlfriend ....

:roll:

Sounds like my kinda girl! Still got her number?

Also can you tell me where I can get a really good Pangalactic Gargle Blaster?

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

All aliens are intergalactic S&M fetish nerds with a animal fixation.

Hmmm ...

Sounds like my Ex-Girlfriend ....

:roll:

Sounds like my kinda girl! Still got her number?

Also can you tell me where I can get a really good Pangalactic Gargle Blaster?

Actually, I do, although last I checked she'd moved in with a friend of mine.

He can't stand her, but his parents consider her the daughter they never had, which also means they won't let me anywhere near her.

As for the Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster, go here, try it at your own risk! [-X

[Plat]

1) All aliens are intergalactic S&M fetish nerds with a animal fixation.

whats "S&M"?

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

1) All aliens are intergalactic S&M fetish nerds with a animal fixation.

whats "S&M"?

Sado-Masochism

I swear, this one time <sigh> in her Dorm Room, she bit me, um, well you know ...

[Zamboni]

I swear, this one time <sigh> in her Dorm Room, she bit me, um, well you know ...

And you were afraid of being hacked by aliens... Were you afraid that they'll find out we are freaks?

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

I swear, this one time <sigh> in her Dorm Room, she bit me, um, well you know ...

And you were afraid of being hacked by aliens... Were you afraid that they'll find out we are freaks?

You think that's weird, this one time we went to Our College's Gay Straight Alliance's Bad Taste Party as, well, Freaks!

We even Won for Best Couple, the Irony Being, we weren't even actually Going Out, at the Time.

[Alex W.]

Sounds like my ex too...

Maybe there's something about astronomy that does attracts folk like that.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

Sounds like my ex too...

Maybe there's something about astronomy that does attracts folk like that.

Well, unless it's the Same Woman (might be possible, read the Admittedly Rambling Horror Story here) I think it might just be The Geek Factor.

While it may be true that Opposites Attract, Birds of a Feather Do Flock Together.

So, it may just be a Science Nerd's Lot in Life, to Date, um Interesting, Women, but Not Only am I Not Worried, I, in fact, Relish It!

[Zamboni]

Perhaps she's still looking for that "big bang"...

Wait a minute, what does ANY of this have to do with aliens or hacking? (or microsoft?)

Anyway, I don't really believe an intersteller-scaled communication cluster (ie. internet in space) could exist any time soon in the future. Let alone aliens hacking such a system.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

Perhaps she's still looking for that "big bang"...

Been there, Done that, she still Tried to Leave me, for a Friend of Mine.

Wait a minute, what does ANY of this have to do with aliens or hacking? (or microsoft?)

Nothing, it's Simply more Interesting, that, and I'm MUCH More Likely to Get her Back, then we're Being Hacked by Aliens!

Anyway, I don't really believe an intersteller-scaled communication cluster (ie. internet in space) could exist any time soon in the future. Let alone aliens hacking such a system.

And especially not with Speed of Light Time Lag, right?