Increasing security through cyber-bio connections

Intriguing connections exist between biological and cyber systems. Biodesign researchers are using evolutionary computation tools to automatically improve software by fixing bugs, enhancing security and reducing energy costs. Computer security has also been shown to have alluring connections with the defense of living systems.

Tools for managing and repairing cybersecurity vulnerabilities are being applied to disease threats, particularly cancer. Cybersecurity approaches are also being harnessed to provide secure contact tracing to control disease outbreaks like COVID-19, with an emphasis on providing sufficient coverage through multiple data sources while maintaining users’ privacy and preventing security attacks. In other research, Biodesign is studying the pervasive effects of online censorship and internet freedom around the world.

Exploring DNA for data storage

For billions of years, nature has used DNA like a molecular bank vault, a place to store her most coveted secrets — the design blueprints essential to life. Now, researchers at ASU’s Biodesign Institute are exploring the unique informationcarrying capacities of DNA, hoping to produce microscopic forms whose ability to encrypt, store and retrieve information rival those of the siliconbased semiconductor memories found in most computers. If successful, DNA-based storage technologies could one day encode everything from a late quartet of Beethoven to a season of Westworld.