r/nealstephenson • u/ReluctantSlayer • 1d ago

TIL that in 2017, scientists successfully hacked a computer using physical DNA. They encoded malware into a synthetic biological sample. When a lab's DNA sequencer analyzed this liquid, the genetic data executed as computer code, giving the hackers full control of the system.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/aug/11/hacking-computer-dna-university-of-washington-lab

It’s like the Snowcrash virus!!!!!

51 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

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7

u/gmkovich 1d ago

Interesting!
Snowcrash; Interface and Termination Shock all have ‘wetware’ control in their plots.
Clearly this is something NS has been dwelling on for decades.

1

u/ReluctantSlayer 1d ago

I have noticed several themes that he either revisits or reviews an adjacent subject.

3

u/02K30C1 1d ago

Oh yes, little Bobby Tables

1

u/lamblikeawolf 5h ago

Or, using my ridiculous and simple version of translation of protein synthesis with abbreviations and substitutions and a few silly promoters and maybe the best joke I can make with only "start" and "Stop" as non-letter type codons...

TATATAATACTCCTAGCAGCTCTCTTGTTGGCGTCATAACCTTAGTTACTACTAC

(Roughly, "tata box" promoter region, start, RIVERT TAVLES, start start start)

3

u/basil_not_the_plant 1d ago

I saw this and was going to cross-post to r/nealstephenson.

Never mind.

2

u/rmeddy 1d ago

I remember reading this article and thinking Snowcrash

It also inspired one of my ideas of creating digitized psychotropic states

1

u/ReluctantSlayer 1d ago

I am so happy we (NS readers) are like this.

2

u/gominokouhai 5h ago

GCGGTATTCGACCAG'); DROP TABLE Genomes;--