Scientists fear messages to aliens may cause cosmic offence

It is a perfectly human reaction to be annoyed if malware infects your smartphone or laptop. But just how extraterrestrials might respond is harder to predict.

An accidental cyber attack launched against aliens who might be hundreds of thousands of years more advanced than us is just one problem bothering British scientists working on such a message to send ET.

The small team from the 20-strong UK Seti (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) group is bidding for a $1m (€882,200) prize on offer for the best method of saying “hello” to our galactic neighbours.