Researchers Used DNA to Trigger a Computer Exploit

In 2017, researchers at the University of Washington took control of a computer using malicious code stored in a physical strand of DNA.

They encoded an exploit in a sequence of the DNA bases A, C, G, and T, made that DNA, and sequenced it normally. When the resulting data was processed by vulnerable software, the exploit ran and let the researchers control the computer.

The experiment was done under specially prepared conditions: the researchers deliberately placed the needed security flaw in the program to show that this kind of attack is technically possible.