A science report from NBC offered an intriguing if not scary idea that what the FBI says Russians did with the #US_presidential_election_hack might be done on a far more profound scale by #space_aliens.

https://www.nbcnews.com/mach/science/should-we-fear-cyberattacks-space-aliens-ncna849941

In a paper by astrophysicists Michael Hippke and John Learned, the scientists muse that telescopes aimed at the heavens might pick up a devilish virus sent our way by an alien species. The extraterrestrial malware might range from cosmic blackmail [Give us ???? or we’ll make your sun go nova] to a worm that steers us toward #AI technology that makes humankind obsolete or does the #TheDayTheEarthStoodStill [2008 remake] nanobot cloud that gives Terra Firma a biological buzzcut.

When you think about the distances likely between planets that spawned intelligent life, a computer virus seems to be a practical way to carry out an attack. That said, even the quickest Trojan Horse might reach us centuries or millennia after the malicious attacker turns to star dust.

And how does an extraterrestrial collect on blackmail over the vast distances? Do they accept Bitcoin transfers to the Bank of Betelgeuse?

Time and distance pose a problem, too. It’s not like getting a zillion sock puppets to do their thing and in a few months seeing #Donald_Trump tweeting from the Oval Office. More likely it will be the equivalent of some teen hacker who gurgles with excitement that on some planet at some point in the distant future Hell will break loose.

The big trick is for that misguided alien teen to complete his/her/its mischief before mom and dad return home and delete computer privileges.