The Growing Convergence of DNA and Information Security

Modern day generation and use of sensitive digital data continues to grow at an aggressive rate (Craglia, et al., 2008). In the face of this mounting pressure, data-protective ‘workhorse’ cryptography algorithms face becoming at the least, suspect and at the most, obsolete. DNA-based and DNA-derived solutions are presently emerging as viable platforms on which to regain lost ground and from which to advance the state of the current art (Bardou, et al., 2012). DNA’s massively parallel processing capabilities, storage capacity and density, computational abilities and natural one-way transcription properties make it a contender in the archival storage, parallel processing and digital data encryption and decryption environments ("The emerging science," 2009). Moving to real-time (lab-less, in situ sampling) reading of in situ DNA remains one of the largest hurdles to practical implementation, but progress is being made toward that end (Toumazou, et al., 2012). This paper looks at human cryptographic history leading up to DNA’s digital-data-specific componentry [and characteristics of same], the mechanics of commoditizing DNA for use as a digital data storage and encryption medium, practical strides made toward using DNA as a storage and retrieval environment and commercial DNA reading technologies.