Brief items

DNA stores standard nucleotides—the basic structural units of DNA—as letters such as A, C, G, and T. After sequencing, this DNA data is processed and analyzed using many computer programs. It is well known in computer security that any data used as input into a program may contain code designed to compromise a computer. This lead us to question whether it is possible to produce DNA strands containing malicious computer code that, if sequenced and analyzed, could compromise a computer.

To assess whether this is theoretically possible, we included a known security vulnerability in a DNA processing program that is similar to what we found in our earlier security analysis. We then designed and created a synthetic DNA strand that contained malicious computer code encoded in the bases of the DNA strand. When this physical strand was sequenced and processed by the vulnerable program it gave remote control of the computer doing the processing. That is, we were able to remotely exploit and gain full control over a computer using adversarial synthetic DNA.

This year's Defcon security conference in Las Vegas sports a "Voter Hacking Village" where surplus voting machines (purchased in secondary markets like Ebay) were made available to security researchers who'd never had an opportunity to examine them, who were then invited to hack them in a timed trial.

The winning team hacked their machine in minutes.

Also, organizers revealed that many of these machines arrived with their voter records intact, sold on by county voting authorities who hadn't wiped them first.

To my fellow maintainers: stay harsh on code and don't be afraid to say "No" or "Why?"; there really are more bad ideas than good ones, and complexity is such a bright candle for us hacker-moths. But be gentle, kind and forgiving of your peers: respect from people you respect is really the only reward that sticks.

Farewell all, and I look forward to crossing your paths again!

Burning out is a leading cause of people having to retire from F/LOSS projects and as such, it's really important that you know when to step away from F/LOSS and have a break. You might prefer to spend a few days entirely away from your computer or just spend it immersed in a game. If you're particularly lucky/unlucky then you might just be able to work on a different project for a little while instead. Whatever you do to relax, be sure to increase your explicit relaxation time along with time you're spending on F/LOSS to keep yourself happy and healthy, and able to contribute for a nice long time to come.

Your homework this week is to just think about what you enjoy doing which isn't work or F/LOSS related at all, and go do it. Just shoo!