ICDF2C 2012: Digital Forensics and Cyber Crime pp 204-219 | Cite as

Finding Data in DNA: Computer Forensic Investigations of Living Organisms

  • Marc B. Beck
  • Eric C. Rouchka
  • Roman V. Yampolskiy
Conference paper
Part of the Lecture Notes of the Institute for Computer Sciences, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering book series (LNICST, volume 114)

Abstract

Recent advances in genetic engineering have allowed the insertion of artificial DNA strands into the living cells of organisms. Several methods have been developed to insert information into a DNA sequence for the purpose of data storage, watermarking, or communication of secret messages. The ability to detect, extract, and decode messages from DNA is important for forensic data collection and for data security. We have developed a software toolkit that detects the presence of a hidden message within a DNA sequence, and deciphers that message. In order to decode a message we are modifying several existing cryptanalysis tools that have been developed for solving simple substitution ciphers and compare their performance.

Keywords

Bioinformatics Cryptography DNA computing Natural languages Computer forensics Steganalysis 
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Copyright information

© ICST Institute for Computer Science, Social Informatics and Telecommunications Engineering 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Marc B. Beck
    • 1
  • Eric C. Rouchka
    • 1
  • Roman V. Yampolskiy
    • 1
  1. 1.Cybersecurity Lab, Department of Computer Engineering and Computer Science, Speed School of EngineeringUniversity of LouisvilleLouisvilleUSA

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