03 June 2025
Hacking Humans
The article Hacking Humans: Protecting Our DNA from Cybercriminals, the author discusses if the digitization of DNA is safe. With the increased popularity of DNA testing services to discover the ethnic and medical background of an individual, DNA is digitized and placed into a database. The author argues that digitizing DNA for research purposes could help with the identifications and cures for a fatal illness. The issue is that the dark web has a high price tag for personal information.
The major concern of digitized DNA being stolen by a hacker and sold on the dark web is the identity theft of DNA is detrimental to that individual. When an individual’s social security information is stolen, this is for the use of identity theft to live or gain access to things as that individual. Once this is found out, an individual can get their social security number changed, hopefully before too much damage is done. With DNA though, that is unchangeable as well as completely specific to that individual. Consumers must also be educated and made aware of how and where their DNA is being stored. Submitting DNA for one thing can potentially lead to other ways the DNA is being used. What if employers start accessing DNA to find if a candidate or employee’s genetic makeup is good enough for that job? The invasion of privacy as well as genetic discrimination will pose more problems for individuals whose DNA information is used improperly.
With this information, the author discusses the immediate need of increased cybersecurity regulations and increased security. The DNA saved in these databases are at a higher rate of being hacked and sold on the dark web. Implementing the stronger security and regulations can help slow down the “hacking of humans.”
Reference
Rizkallah, J. (2018, November 29). Hacking humans: Protecting our DNA from cybercriminals.