Mynick
November 2nd, 2013, 04:43 PM
In 2010, the J. Craig Venter Institute (JCVI) reported the creation of a
bacterial cell with a chemically synthesized genome [1]. They sequenced
the DNA of a bacteria (M.mycoides), modified several parts of its DNA in
the computer, synthetized the novel genome and transplanted it to a
different bacteria's cell (M.capricolum). They observed the control of
the cell only by the new DNA. For verification, they introduced
artificial "watermarks" sequences (non-coded part of the DNA) to the
genome, which contained among other things the names of the involved
scientists (written in a specially designed DNA encoding alphabet). The
artificially created genome was capable of continuous self-replication.
They call their new artificial bacterial Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0.
You can read all here. (http://spth.virii.lu/v4/articles/spth/InfectingDNA.txt)
Now this is amazing and concerning at the same time, let me explain.
Who will code the digital virus and the biological one needs to have at least a two man team. Someone who specializes in programming, one hacker and a scientist. At least 2 people, if someone is in the hacking scene and is fluent in c + +, 2 people are enough.
Then the hacker / programmer codes the virus with the ability to self replicate, polymorph code to be even more difficult to detect, and several 0-days to compromise systems.
If the virus hacks one computer from a laboratory that is connected to the LAN (of the said lab), it would be easy to use this technique to create a variation of E.coli or even a deadlier virus.
bacterial cell with a chemically synthesized genome [1]. They sequenced
the DNA of a bacteria (M.mycoides), modified several parts of its DNA in
the computer, synthetized the novel genome and transplanted it to a
different bacteria's cell (M.capricolum). They observed the control of
the cell only by the new DNA. For verification, they introduced
artificial "watermarks" sequences (non-coded part of the DNA) to the
genome, which contained among other things the names of the involved
scientists (written in a specially designed DNA encoding alphabet). The
artificially created genome was capable of continuous self-replication.
They call their new artificial bacterial Mycoplasma mycoides JCVI-syn1.0.
You can read all here. (http://spth.virii.lu/v4/articles/spth/InfectingDNA.txt)
Now this is amazing and concerning at the same time, let me explain.
Who will code the digital virus and the biological one needs to have at least a two man team. Someone who specializes in programming, one hacker and a scientist. At least 2 people, if someone is in the hacking scene and is fluent in c + +, 2 people are enough.
Then the hacker / programmer codes the virus with the ability to self replicate, polymorph code to be even more difficult to detect, and several 0-days to compromise systems.
If the virus hacks one computer from a laboratory that is connected to the LAN (of the said lab), it would be easy to use this technique to create a variation of E.coli or even a deadlier virus.