The SETI@home project recently announced that a flaw has been discovered in their software that could allow a hacker to gain control of a user’s computer. While the SETI officials don’t consider this to be a major problem, they have released a patched version of their software which repairs the security hole. All SETI users are advised to go to the SETI@home Web site to download the newest version of the SETI software, version 3.08.

The SETI@home project uses the spare computing power of home computers to assist in the search for extraterrestrial beings. This popular distributed computing program installs a special screen saver on the user’s computer and it is that screen saver software that now needs to be updated. SETI@home currently has almost 4 ½ million active users. For a more detailed explanation of the program see my article, SETI searches for ET.