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DEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome

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  • Recommended by 11 people: 11 on Hacker News.
  • A classic. People kept recommending it from 2017 to 2023.
  • Presented by John Sotos, Chief Medical Officer of Intel

Beginner. No background in the topic needed.

13K views9 years ago11 recommendations

SecurityExploits and vulnerabilitiesPrivacy and surveillance

John Sotos explains how genetic diseases can be viewed as unpatchable security vulnerabilities and warns of the biosecurity risks of gene-editing technologies.

operating system (and set of application programs) built on the digital molecules DNA and RNA. The genome has thousands of publicly documented, unpatchable security vulnerabilities, previously called "genetic diseases." Because emerging DNA/RNA technologies, including CRISPR-Cas9 and especially those arising from the Cancer Moonshot program, will create straightforward methods to digitally reprogram the genome in free-living humans, malicious exploitation of genomic vulnerabilities will soon be possible on a wide scale. This presentation shows the breathtaking potential for such hacks, most notably the exquisite targeting precision that the genome supports — in effect, population, and time — spanning annoyance to organized crime to civilization-ending pandemics far worse than Ebola. Because humans are poor at responding to less-than-immediate threats, and because there is no marketplace demand for defensive technologies on the DNA/RNA platform, the hacker community has an important role to play in devising thought-experiments to convince policy makers to initiate defensive works, before offensive hacks can be deployed in the wild. Hackers can literally save the world... from ourselves.

Why it's here

11 people recommend this

What people say. Recommended as a terrifying and captivating talk on the security implications of DNA databases and gene-editing technologies.

patcheudoron Hacker News • Recommends

On “New Model Warns About Crispr Gene Drives in the Wild”

John Sotos, Chief Medical Officer of Intel covered the dangers of this technology quite well at DEF CON 25. If you've not seen his talk, watch it now, it's in my top ten of the best talks I've been to in the eleven years I've been going to DEF CON: link to this video

detrituson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Welcome to Pleistocene Park”

If you're interested in this domain, I'd highly recommend watching the following Defcon Talk from Intel's Chief Medical Officer (who'd've thunkit?) which is illuminating and borderline terrifying.. 'DEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome' link to this video

globuouson Hacker News • Recommends

On “DNA Testing Botched My Family's Heritage”

I always kinda curious about dna heritage testing. Until I saw John Sotos' talk at Def Con 25 0. He highly recommands you keep your genome private. And that you only give it away if it is vital (aka you're really sick). The talk is absolutely amazing, probably the most captivating talk I have ever watched (thanks HN commenter that shared it a while ago). But anyway, Sotos specifically tells his audience that, as a security measure, they shouldn't release their dna to heritage services. Because it isn't vital. Anywhi, great talk, highly recommand it although Sotos mentions DNA testing for heritage for a few seconds only, so slightly off topic :) 0 link to this video

ghjon Hacker News • Recommends

On “23andMe hackers accessed a whole lot of user's personal data”

I remember deciding that I never want to ever have my DNA in any database after watching this talk: DEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome (2017): link to this video

Houshalteron Hacker News • Recommends

On “US Federal Ban on Making Lethal Viruses Is Lifted”

This was posted a few days ago. It's a talk about the dangers of man made viruses by Intel's chief medical officer: link to this video 2 minutes in he talks about how a strain of flu escaped from a lab in 1977 and killed (and is still killing) millions of people.

loeeeon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Why CRISPR-Edited Food May Be in Supermarkets Sooner Than You Think”

This defcon talk on the some of the ways that gene editing can be used and abused might change your mind. link to this video Weaponized crops aside, it's also worth considering about all of the problems that have arisen with invasive species. What happens if a plant bred for it's resilience begins to choke out other crops? What about the problem of creating mono-cultures, either intentionally or inadvertently? And those are just the obvious examples of what could go wrong. Not to say that there isn't a lot of potential for good with these technologies, but I don't think that companies doing an end run around the USDA, or any other regulatory body that might catch potential problems, is all that harmles…

zawerfon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Hackable humans and digital dictators: Q&A with Yuval Noah Harari”

There is a much more convincing talk on the dangers of bioengineering: link to this video News article if you can't watch: link tl;dr “The reason you haven’t heard much about bioweapons is that they’ve been held back by a pretty severe limitation, which is the potential for blowback." Unlocking the ability to target specific genes will overcome this since the same tech that allows targeting only cancer cell will allow targeting specific groups or individuals. > What, for example, if groups spread their agenda in a very direct way, by literally rewriting DNA to make it impossible to live a life against their credo? Suppose militant vegans wanted to end meat eating: there’s a gene for that. Or imagine…

bgaluszkaon Hacker News • Recommends

On “CRISPR machines that can wipe out entire species”

You may find interesting this presentation from John Sotos on DEF CON link to this video "Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome".

Real_Son Hacker News • Recommends

On “23andMe to share customer gene data with GlaxoSmithKline for $300M”

This is a legitimate threat: link to this video If your DNA becomes available to adversaries, you may suddenly find yourself on the front line in a bio-war.

bagacrapon Hacker News • Recommends

On “Breach exposed more than one million DNA profiles on a major genealogy database”

this presentation outlines the kind of terrible attacks that could be based on your DNA in the near future link to this video tldr, CRISPR allows targeting bioweapons at specific individuals.

nickleson Hacker News • Recommends

On “Alpha-Gal Syndrome”

There was an interesting Defcon talk on potential threats from genetic engineering that touched on this exact scenario. 0 link to this video

doogliuson Hacker News • Mentions

On “Dr. Seuss’ arms race allegory”

> Messy because it is difficult to limit the damage to targeted enemy combatants. Unfortunately, this may not be true for much longer. See link to this video for a scare.

devteambravoon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Putting 500k People's DNA Online”

That's a terrifying read. See DefCon talk: DEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome ( link to this video )

LMYahooTFYon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Military robots are getting smaller and more capable”

Something even more terrifying to me is illuminated by a talk from John Sotos who served as Chief Medical Officer for Intel. link to this video "...defensive technology always lags offensive technology. So you know, the cancer moonshot I would propose is dual use, just like nuclear weapons and nuclear power, two sides of the same coin. The ideal cancer treatment someday is going to be the doctors biopsy your tumor, get a sample, send it down to the lab, the lab will figure out the genetic signature of your exact cancer tumor. Then somebody will build a virus, that using that if-then statement, only targets the cancer cells in you. They'll put that virus inside you, you'll feel like you have a cold for…

no_identdon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Ask HN: Is 23andMe DNA testing worth it?”

link to this video DEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome The Chief Medical Officer of Intel says genetic testing in general seems like a terrible security risk one should avoid incurring at all cost. So that's a big fat no.

toomuchtodoon Hacker News • Mentions

On “Super-precise new CRISPR tool could tackle a plethora of genetic diseases”

But if one wanted to, bioengineering ethnic cleansing (or whatever section of genome you're targeting) can be done with a couple thousand dollars worth of supplies in a garage, no nuclear or conventional arsenal required. The point of importance is the barrier to entry is so much lower. DEFCON talk: link to this video (DEF CON 25 - John Sotos - Genetic Diseases to Guide Digital Hacks of the Human Genome) HN thread: link