The emergence of CRISPR gene editing has great medical potential; however, it also presents ethical and cybersecurity threats. The articles “Malicious Code Written into DNA Infects the Computer that Reads It” and “Hacking Humans: Protecting Our DNA from Cybercriminals” show how biology and technology are now intermixed\u2014and that blend has risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first article argues that DNA can be encoded with malicious code to infect the computer reading it, combining biological and digital threats. The second article warns that our personal DNA, once transferred into the digital realm, can be weaponized against us for privacy breaches or identity theft. DNA as an identifiable characteristic is permanent, and should the DNA data leak, the changes could be irreversible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These problems raise ethical questions regarding privacy, consent, and ownership. Who owns our DNA data once it is coded and\/or edited? I believe we need to adopt strong cybersecurity standards and regulated ethics to protect CRISPR and biotechnologies for the good they can bring. Without strong cybersecurity and regulated ethics, the same tool that cures disease could have the potential to exploit or harm an individual. Protecting our genetic data is just as important to building trust in how genetic data is treated and how gene editing data will be used in a way that is ethical and beneficial.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The emergence of CRISPR gene editing has great medical potential; however, it also presents ethical and cybersecurity threats. The articles “Malicious Code Written into DNA Infects the Computer that Reads It” and “Hacking Humans: Protecting Our DNA from Cybercriminals” show how biology and technology are now intermixed\u2014and that blend has risk. The first article argues… <\/p>\n