Researchers Believe Aliens Could Send Malware and Destroy Humanity

Megalith

Megalith

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Two researchers warn that aliens could send contaminated messages from space to wreak havoc on our IT structure. The fear is that seemingly innocent transmissions could be embedded with dangerous code.

The paper details that an alien AI could begin a negotiation with humanity, in essence social engineering an attack. One recommended solution is to build a "prison" on the moon, a computer that is used to decode alien messages, but is isolated from other networks and which could be remotely destroyed if necessary.
 
Or they could just wait another few hundred years and we'll destroy ourselves.
 
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I we can do it, it should be no problem for extra-terrestrials to do it.
 
Err, we can do it right here and just you know, not connect it to the internet. I know it's a wild idea.

Plus it wouldn't be some sort of mega alien code thing as it would have to be fully compatible with our coding and machines to actually work.
 
Are they going to include a bitcoin address so we can at least barter for our lives?
 
Do these researchers know something the rest of us don't ?? Last time I checked, we didn't even know if aliens exist, so how are they going to send malware to Earth ??
 
Let's hope the Aliens don't do livestreams of their hacking stunts, otherwise humanity will be too busy laughing at them getting off to do anything about it.

AcademicShallowKiskadee-size_restricted.gif
 
CaptNumbNutz said:
Let's hope the Aliens don't do livestreams of their hacking stunts, otherwise humanity will be too busy laughing at them getting off to do anything about it.

AcademicShallowKiskadee-size_restricted.gif
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Mass Effect joke? I don't get it. (I don't buy EA games)
 
ZodaEX said:
Mass Effect joke? I don't get it. (I don't buy EA games)
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Really? That's from the Transformers movie in 2007. The little bot hacked Air Force One while in flight then subsequently the entire military. The bot sticks its fingers in the servers hard drives, acts like its about to blow its load, then someone cuts the connection. The bot then gets angry and acts like it just got blue ball bearings.
 
Ok, this is bullshit. The only way this happens is if they've been monitoring us at close range, within a few light years. Otherwise, by the time we receive their transmissions, our technology would have changed and be incompatible with whatever hack they've sent. And if they're monitoring us at close range, and are hostile to us, we've got much bigger problems.
 
EODetroit said:
Ok, this is bullshit. The only way this happens is if they've been monitoring us at close range, within a few light years. Otherwise, by the time we receive their transmissions, our technology would have changed and be incompatible with whatever hack they've sent. And if they're monitoring us at close range, and are hostile to us, we've got much bigger problems.
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They would probably have faster CPUs than us that could brute force threw our security in hours, where it would have taken us lifetimes to do it.
 
This is what we should be doing with AI, but alas we're not worried about something we create. Just what some damn foreign aliens might create
 
mr.erik said:
This is what we should be doing with AI, but alas we're not worried about something we create. Just what some damn foreign aliens might create
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Who is we? Are we all not adventures in the cosmos?
 
The alien malware packets are already on the way that will infect our SNA networks and bring our 370s to a screeching halt.
 
Have researchers developed a way to send ass-kicks over the internet yet? That's possible, too, right?
 
Thought the malware was already in place. When H. erectus was infected to become H. sapiens . The stupidest creature on the planet.
 
So, what does it feel like to get probed virtually, does Ubisoft make an attachment for that...?

::::scratches:::: ::::sniffs:::: ::::scratches some more::::
 
I'm glad that extraterrestrial malware is the existential threat humanity needs to worry about confronting.

Now we can stop worrying about global war, pandemics, climate change and all that other trivial stuff.
 
"researchers" ...right.
So the only way they found to have computers that are not connected to a network is sending them to the moon?
How are you going to use those computers? Either connect them remotely , ow wait that would put them in a network , or send people on a regular basis to go check the few computers on the moon and what write down on paper what they hear or see on the computers?
How about just not plugin those computers on earth in to a network.
Also destroying the computers because of software, they won't be able to write code that makes computers work without power, so the easiest way would be unplugging them.
Is this a thesis written by Michael Bay or something?
 
If aliens can do it so can humans and that's a lot more likely. Why would they bother? "Space is big. Really big. You just won't believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. I mean, you may think it's a long way down the road to the chemist, but that's just peanuts to space." Douglas Adams has it right, why would aliens feel the least threatened by us? We've barely managed to set foot on the moon--in a light speed limited universe it's a damn long way to the nearest exoplanet and it's unlikely to have a civilization desiring to destroy us.
 
Aliens could destroy us in many ways, why is this one that special?
 
ZodaEX said:
They would probably have faster CPUs than us that could brute force threw our security in hours, where it would have taken us lifetimes to do it.
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Sure, but doesn't solve what he was talking about. If they're 40-50+ light years out it would take decades for any information on our systems to hit their systems. Even if they could crack it and create a virus instantly it would still take 40-50+ years to come back to our systems. That is assuming they can "only" transmit at the speed of light over dozens of light years with no signal degradation. That is a lead time of 80-100+ years. Computers barely even existed 100 years ago. Imagine where our technology will be 100 years from now.
 
I guess there is also the case where aliens just physically appear somewhere in our solar system - we would still need a secure line to have a chat.

Of course, this totally ignores the fact that we're beaming all sorts of communications all around the planet in the clear. It would be just as easy for them to soak up information this way and then re-engineer whatever signal they want. All they have to do is take our shouting and shout a little loader over the top of us.
 
Why would they bother with that much work?

Much easier to just create an EM pulse and wipe out every electronic device. Within 24 hours half the population would be cowering in their rooms with coloring books.
Within a week, most would starve to death or be killed by the roving gangs.

If they wanted to wipe out most other life (not just people), all they would need to do is redirect a couple large rocks to hit the earth.
Come back in a couple years to a mostly lifeless planet.
 
Does the alien use OSX? We can program a virus on a MacBook and disable their shield.
 
These "researchers" were probably smoking peyote:woot: and watching Jeff Goldblum hack the alien mothership:blackalien: and thought, "Holy shit!:jawdrop: That could go both ways!:eek: Let's write a paper before this shit wears off man!:writer:" The next morning:hurting:, "Why we gettin so many calls about some paper?:whistle:"
 
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