Remember in Independence Day, where Will Smith hacked an alien computer system with an iMac? Someone out there is concerned that the reverse might be far more possible. What if aliens were malicious hackers?
The source for the above link, mssv.net, doesn’t seem to find the idea as outlandish as I do. I mean, what are the chances their virus would even work on our Networks? I just don’t buy it. If it were to happen, you’d need more than just data being captured by the SETI@home system; you’d need a malicious hacker somehow present, say, an AI orbiting earth in a tiny, undetectable computer, part of a self-replicating expander/destructor-swarm or something.
And if that were our attacker, then there’s not much sense in worrying about SETI@home, since this thing would probably target the Internet generally (if it had any good sense).
Which is just to say, I’m skeptical. But as Adrian of mssv.net wrote, it “brings to mind shades of Vernor Vinge,” and it is an interesting enough worry.