Cart
0
Most DNA Evidence at Risk of Untraceable AI Hacking According to Experts
Researchers say AI-assisted code can silently alter forensic DNA files used in most U.S. crime labs, and no lab has a way to detect it.
Forensics lab (Photo by Moughit Fawzi)
A new discovery by researchers has shown that AI-assisted code can silently rewrite the digital files produced by some of the most used forensic DNA machines. First reported by the Wall Street Journal, a group of forensic and computer scientists found that AI-assisted code can target the binary output files of capillary electrophoresis instruments. This potentially compromises nearly 30 years of DNA files.
Neither the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Laboratory (USACIL) nor the Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory (AFDIL) has publicly addressed the vulnerability.
Gear Spotlight- What Our Readers Are Picking Up
Experts say there is no evidence the vulnerability has been exploited but admit they can’t detect if any tampering has occurred in the past. Thermo Fisher Scientific, the company that produces the crime-lab equipment used in many facilities, issued a high-severity security bulletin and released a software update to add digital signatures to protect data files.
On Friday, Thermo Fisher Scientific issued a security bulletin that warned of “a risk for nearly undetectable modification” of certain files “if laboratory controls are circumvented.” The bulletin also thanked key personnel and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) for their “identification and coordinated disclosure of the issue covered in this security bulletin.”
Earlier this year, Nathan Adams, a systems engineer at Forensic Bioinformatics, attempted this exploit using a public data set of DNA files. Adams said it only took about 45 minutes, using Anthropic’s Claude, to successfully change the first file. He went on to say that a publicly available decryption key helped him crack harder encryption.
These events come on the heels of former Colorado Bureau of Investigation (CBI) DNA analyst Yvonne “Missy” Woods pleading guilty to 4 felonies to avoid the original 102 felony charges. After an exhaustive investigation, authorities accused Woods of compromising data or manipulation in 1,045 cases, which accounted for roughly 10% of her workload. She is facing 8 to 16 years of incarceration, pending her Sept 8, 2026, sentencing.
Editor's note: PSM has previously covered many instances where DNA evidence has been used to exonerate Americans, including many Veterans, from alleged crimes.
Pop Smoke Media is owned by Aspetto, Inc., a defense contractor referenced in this story's industry. Please see Editorial Disclosure — Pop Smoke Media & Aspetto, Inc.
