On Mon, 15 Apr 1996, Vladimir Z. Nuri wrote:
I have been wondering about malicious hackers getting into these pools. would it be possible for them to contribute false data that screws up the end results? or are such anomalies easily discarded or disregarded by the final processes?
future implementors of these programs might amuse themselves with trying to create such safeguards or anticipate such "attacks" which are pretty significant the more the processes become distributed.
I guess I would have to ask you why you think hackers would be interested in these projects in the first place? Your typical hacker would care very little about such a project and in fact may be interested in seeing it succeed. However, I do feel that you may have a valid point when switching "hackers" to "opponents of the research." Anyone with an interest in preventing or slowing down the progress in such a project would be more dangerous in my mind than your average hacker. Preventing that from happening would be necessary if it is decided that such a threat truly exists. Bruce Marshall