-Caveat Lector-
[Tell me if the last sentence of this article didn't come to mind
at least once before you came to the end and read it?? -MS]
--begin forward--
Scientists use genetic code to send secret messages
Discovery adds biological dimension to field of encryption
By Stewart Bell
National Post
Tuesday, June 29, 1999
The search for better ways of sending hidden messages has been
the preoccupation of generals and spies for centuries. Now three
U.S. researchers have turned the genetic code into a secret code
to come up with a way of transmitting "completely undetectable"
messages in DNA. A team at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New
York successfully encoded a message on DNA, hid it on a period in
an otherwise innocuous letter and sent it through the mail. The
recipient was able to easily decode the concealed, though
outdated, warning: "June 6 Invasion: Normandy."
Detailed in the journal Nature, the discovery adds a biological
dimension to the field of encryption, once the domain of armies
and diplomats but now a major concern for companies trying to
safeguard their data and computer-users sending sensitive e-mail
on the Internet. "This appears to be the first time anyone
thought of taking advantage of the complexity of DNA to hide
messages," said Dr. Carter Bancroft, a professor of physiology
and biophysics who led the research team.
"Genomic steganography," as its inventors call it, is a modern
version of the ancient art of secure communications that dates
back to 400 BC, when Spartan military commanders sent messages to
each other that could be read only when wrapped around a baton of
the right thickness. During the Second World War, German spies
shrunk photographed messages and pasted them over a period in a
letter, a method J. Edgar Hoover called "the enemy's masterpiece
of espionage."
Dr. Bancroft and two colleagues at Mount Sinai took the technique
a leap further. They began by creating a simple code out of
combinations of the four chemical bases of DNA, classified as A,
C, G or T. The researchers assigned a different letter of the
alphabet or a number to various combinations of the chemical
bases. For example, the combination CGA would be decoded as the
letter A.
The researchers then created strands of artificial DNA, arranging
the bases in the right order so as to spell out the message they
wanted to send. Twenty "primer sequences" were placed before and
after the message to mark the encoded words. The DNA was then
mixed with human DNA to further conceal it and the mixture was
placed on a dot that appears in a letter as a period. To read the
message, the recipient cut the dot out of the letter and employed
a technique commonly used in molecular biology to find and
analyze the encoded DNA. Decryption is only possible if the
recipient knows the code and has at least a rudimentary knowledge
of DNA structure -- which suggests spies of the future may have
to be as adept at biotechnology as they are at the art of
disguise.
The result was a message that was virtually impossible for
enemies to detect, let alone decode. Even if someone knew there
was a DNA message in the letter, the chances of even isolating
the right strand of DNA would be one in 30 million. It would then
have to be decoded. "It occurred to me one day that the human
genome, being exceedingly complex, might be a very good place to
hide a secret message written in DNA," Dr. Bancroft told the
National Post. "Then I realized that polymerase chain reaction,
which is widely employed in molecular biology to amplify up
specific pieces of DNA, from the human genome and elsewhere,
would be a perfect way to recover the message hidden in DNA."
Methods of encrypting information are becoming increasingly
sophisticated as companies seek to secure their communications
and valuable data. Computer software that will encode and decode
messages is now widely available.
Canadian law-enforcement officials lobbied to have access to the
keys that would allow them to read encrypted messages, but John
Manley, the Industry Minister, announced in October that
Canadians would be permitted to "develop, import and use whatever
cryptography products they wish." Reg Whitaker, a York
University professor who specializes in security issues, said it
is possible to hide encrypted messages in photographs and even
music sent over the Internet. In fact, computer encryption is now
so advanced, there may be no need to hide messages in DNA.
=================================================================
Kaddish, Kaddish, Kaddish, YHVH, TZEVAOT
FROM THE DESK OF: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
*Mike Spitzer* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
~~~~~~~~ <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The Best Way To Destroy Enemies Is To Change Them To Friends
Shalom, A Salaam Aleikum, and to all, A Good Day.
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