Malicous code written into DNA infects the computer that reads it

&gt;They cheated a little by introducing a particular vulnerability into the software themselves.<p>Wow, incredible work guys. Really a milestone here.

I feel like scientists are intentionally doing things hey know will generate clickbait headlines. It&#x27;s probably good for funding.

This is (yet) another buffer overflow exploit. Writing your code in <i>a safe language</i> makes buffer overflows obsolete. This problem was solved a long time ago. It should have been obsolete by now.<p>Even with code written in unsafe languages, ASLR and the XD&#x2F;NX bit makes this class of exploits almost completely obsolete. I&#x27;m assuming the DNA software they were using had neither turned on.<p>I&#x27;m a bit exhausted of hearing about buffer overflow exploits. There&#x27;s nothing smart or clever about them (anymore).

Even though in this case the software vulnerability was introduced by the researchers, this is still a very innovative proof of concept that combines techniques from biochemistry and computer security.

As long as the code is &quot;just&quot; malicious to computers.<p>I dread (but am already certain it will eventually happen) the day when some kind of gene therapy cure will be customized to your DNA and will contain some absolutely nasty bio-DRM (think turbo cancer) if it gets applied to the wrong person, or past a date, etc.

Not too far-off from the oft-mocked segment in Bones where a computer is infected by making an MRI scan of a malware fractal pattern embedded in the bones.

Reminds me of Hofstadter&#x27;s &quot;Given any record player, I guarantee a record can be made to break it&quot;

I think the big thing this shows is that &quot;Never trust your input data without validation&quot; really means &quot;never&quot; even if the data is something seemingly difficult to tamper with.

Actual paper: <a href="http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dnasec.cs.washington.edu&#x2F;dnasec.pdf" rel="nofollow">http:&#x2F;&#x2F;dnasec.cs.washington.edu&#x2F;dnasec.pdf</a>

This is almost the plot of a scifi novel published in 1994, The Deus Machine, by Pierre Ouellette. The malicious code was placed in introns by nature itself.<p>Need to sanitize those inputs!

&quot;Ghost in the Shell&quot; reality comes closer and closer.<p>Especially the part when in the original movie two garbage truck drivers were remotely hacked and their identities were completely replaced. That could probably happen by checking out a certain street sign.<p>Scary.

From the title I thought they were going for a metaphor to describe what a cold or other virus might do. (And you&#x27;re the computer.)

If an MP3 playlist can exploit a player, why not any other data. A barcode on a banana could hide an exploit, so why not DNA.

Remind me of an episode of Bones

never trust input