Why Human DNA Is Now At Risk Of Hacking | Unveiled

Why Human DNA is Now at Risk of Hacking

Deoxyribonucleic acid, what we more commonly know as DNA, is found in every single cell in our bodies and contains our entire, unique genetic code. We often imagine it as an eternal and unchanging part of ourselves. An immovable fact shaping each of our lives. But what happens when we finally start to unravel the famed double helix?

This is Unveiled, and today we’re uncovering the extraordinary reasons why human DNA is now at risk of hacking.

While there’s no need to excessively worry that you could be targeted right now, there are actually a number of different ways to “hack” DNA. It’s possible to edit the human genome and genetically engineer a person; it’s also possible to break into large databases full of genetic information and wreak havoc that way; and, thanks to one particularly talented team working in 2017, we now know it’s possible to embed malware into digitized DNA in order to infect computers.

Now much more than just a source of scientific study, DNA has become big business in recent years. That’s largely thanks to home DNA kits you can buy from companies online. Ancestry, for example, is one of the world’s most popular DNA firms, granting you the opportunity to send your own DNA off to be analyzed by professionals. People take these tests for a variety of reasons; whether it’s to search for potential genetic problems that they may have, or may unwittingly pass on to their children… or just out of plain curiosity, to discover more about who they are, where they come from and their family tree. As far as crazes go, this one at least broadens the mind into contemplating our own physical make-up as well as personal, local and possibly global history.

But ultimately, home tests still require customers to trust a private company to take and keep their DNA - the uniquely specific code which makes them them ­- and to hold this information securely. In some cases, though not always, it’s data which could be shared with other companies for further medical research. And then, in other cases, we’ve seen people upload their genetic profile to other third party websites, notably GEDmatch, or post the intricate details of their results onto social media. Never before has genetic code been so readily obtainable, understandable or shareable.

In an age where internet privacy and data security are such hot topics, it’s perhaps surprising that so many are opting to go ahead with these tests at all; let alone publishing them online. The general line of advice from industry experts is to be particularly careful when selecting which (if any) company to use. And to keep whatever information you do uncover to yourself! The largest and most reputable DNA test brands are usually subject to rigorous tests and regulations insisted on by third-party watchdogs, but others aren’t - and the risk of hacking is a constant. In 2018, for example, ninety-two million accounts were breached by an attack on MyHeritage, an Israeli genealogy service. This particular incident only revealed email addresses and passwords rather than actual genetic information, but it did serve to highlight the potential for problems, showing that these businesses are just as fallible as other digital companies who have had large data breaches.

The thing that arguably makes a DNA breach so much worse than any other kind of hack is that while you can change other details about yourself such as email addresses and passwords, or even credit card information, your name or social security numbers in more extreme situations, you can’t change your DNA. Once a cybercriminal gets their hands on that kind of data, they’ve got it for good.

But why is that so scary? It’s reasonably rare that your DNA would ever be checked to prove your identity, so what could hackers really achieve with the information? Well, public databases are at times somewhat controversially used by law enforcement agencies today, to make arrests. In early 2019, for example, Minnesotan Jerry Westrom was arrested for a 1993 murder after his DNA, taken from a discarded napkin, was matched to a DNA profile connected to the crime scene uploaded to GEDmatch. And in 2018, the infamous Golden State Killer was also arrested using data from GEDmatch. While catching and incarcerating dangerous criminals is very clearly a good thing, it hasn’t stopped the new-age process from being branded as unethical, with worries that the open availability of DNA could soon be widely misused. Concerns for the future range from whether it would be possible for criminals to synthesise DNA to leave at crime scenes in order to frame other people, to whether corrupt law enforcement officials could have an easy platform through which to do the same thing. With thousands of DNA profiles seemingly hackable, could they also be alterable or duplicable for nefarious reasons, to the point where DNA, a cornerstone of forensic science, is no longer even admissible as evidence?

Synthesizing or modifying DNA might sound like it belongs in the realm of science-fiction, but it’s become a very accessible reality thanks to CRISPR technology. CRISPR stands for “Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats”; these “repeats” are found in single-cell bacteria and archaea, and they’re essentially information that’s held regarding viruses that the bacteria have previously encountered. With this information they’re better equipped to defeat and eradicate the viruses if they’re infected again. For this reason, CRISPR is particularly useful in the development of antibiotics. CRISPR-Cas9 is a burgeoning field of biotechnology, though, where it’s possible to use what we know about CRISPR sequences to modify certain DNA strands and then send them into our bodies to make helpful alterations from the outset - to prevent disease or defects, for example.

It’s intricate science, but the applications for CRISPR could be endless. Right away it could revolutionize modern medicine as genetic diseases that were previously untreatable could be cured – with some professionals working in the field even saying that the technology could feasibly be used to essentially instruct cancer cells to die. Outside of these outstandingly encouraging applications, though, so-called “biohackers” have also suggested that CRISPR could enable recreational or cosmetic uses too; from the changing of hair color to even the growing of wings and a tail. Remarkably, just like you can buy DNA tests, you can also purchase CRISPR kits to carry out your own experiments, and it requires no prior training. Revolutionary science is now in the hands of the public, and CRISPR-Cas9 “starter packs” could well become common before the end of the century.

Whether this is a good or bad thing is up for debate; there are plenty of people who take issue with genetically modifying crops, for instance, but where animals and humans are concerned the grey areas get even greyer. The controversy is clearest in the uproar surrounding “designer babies”. “Designer babies” are those which are genetically modified while still an embryo, usually to remove an identified genetic disease. The process is so heavily regulated that it is very, very rarely carried out at the moment, although a Chinese scientist did perform genetic experiments on developing embryos unethically in 2018. That scientist’s reported aim was to create a person who was resistant to HIV, but he was still globally condemned for his actions. For many, it’s simply wrong to use science to change anything about future human beings, with the fear being that prospective parents could one day “build” their own child in a similar way to how they might commission an architect to design their house.

In a sense, customising and manipulating CRISPR tech is a lot like writing software for the body, and leading scientists have described the process as writing a program that; “kills cancer cells”. But DNA can also harbor genuine computer viruses, too. Simply put, DNA is made up of four components labeled A, T, C and G. It’s a convenient system in nature, but once you have an entire DNA sequence mapped out it’s also not so difficult to translate it into the ones and zeroes of binary code. As such, in 2017, researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle announced that they had successfully synthesized DNA so that it contained an entire malware program. The positive for us as human beings is that this process doesn’t “install” a person with a computer virus; rather it infects any computer attempting to read that particular DNA sequence… but that could still be devasting for hospitals, universities, for any institution that needs to be able to study DNA for any reason – including private DNA firms and anyone working with CRISPR technology.

It’s a good thing that we’ve come to understand how this works before hackers run riot with it… but there still isn’t a fool proof way at present to determine whether a certain sequence has been implanted with malware before putting it into a computer. So, what’s to stop DNA hackers from sending a synthesized strand of genetic malware to a consumer DNA firm, or to any DNA bank, thereby destroying their databases and stealing genuine genetic information? To do so would be difficult and would require some very specific expertise, but it could be possible - and could yet become more viable in the future. There are certainly easier ways to hack computers, but few quite as stylish.

Th digitilization of DNA is here and the commercialization of genealogy has arrived. And that’s why human DNA is now at risk of hacking.