It is a brave new world. Not unlike software developers who use code to create programs, genetic engineers use software to create digital representations of genes. With that information, scientists can use chemical processes to produce synthetic DNA.
This capability has significant implications. “The cyber-physical nature of biotechnology raises unprecedented security concerns,” write coauthors Jean Peccoud, Jenna E. Gallegos, Randall Murch, Wallace G. Buchholz, and Sanjay Raman in their research paper Cyberbiosecurity: From Naive Trust to Risk Awareness. “Computers can be compromised by encoding malware in DNA sequences, and biological threats can be synthesized using publicly available data.”
The paper’s introduction continues: “Trust within the biotechnology community creates vulnerabilities at the interface between cyberspace and biology. Awareness is a prerequisite to managing these risks.”
SEE: Intrusion detection policy (Tech Pro Research)
What is cyberbiosecurity?
Cyberbiosecurity is a relatively new field that melds biosecurity with cybersecurity….
