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The Cyber-Biosecurity Nexus
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Relevant to AI safety audiences concerned with dual-use emerging technologies; AI-accelerated synthetic biology and automated lab systems are key threat multipliers discussed in this biosecurity-cybersecurity overlap analysis.
Metadata
Importance: 45/100policy briefanalysis
Summary
This Council on Strategic Risks briefer examines the intersection of cybersecurity and biosecurity, identifying how advances in automation, synthetic biology democratization, and proliferating high-containment facilities create novel threat vectors. It argues that hostile state actors like Russia and North Korea increasingly exploit vulnerabilities in biotech and medical research infrastructure as sub-threshold warfare tools, and offers policy recommendations for improved prevention, detection, and national response.
Key Points
- •Rapid automation advances (robotics, ML, cloud computing) in synthetic biology create new cyber-biosecurity vulnerabilities including unauthorized remote access to sensitive biological data.
- •Democratization of synthetic biology lowers barriers to dangerous research via cheaper DNA synthesis and cloud labs, enabling potential bypass of ethical oversight.
- •Nearly 60 high-biosafety-level containment facilities now operate globally, expanding the attack surface for cyber-enabled biological threats.
- •Hostile nations use cyberattacks on biotech enterprises as sub-threshold arsenal tools, targeting intellectual property, service availability, and critical infrastructure.
- •Policy recommendations focus on scaling national prevention, detection, and response mechanisms to address the growing sophistication of cyber-biosecurity threats.
Cited by 1 page
| Page | Type | Quality |
|---|---|---|
| Bioweapons Risk | Risk | 91.0 |
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The Cyber-Biosecurity Nexus: Key Risks and Recommendations for the United States - The Council on Strategic Risks
The Cyber-Biosecurity Nexus: Key Risks and Recommendations for the United States
September 14, 2023
Briefer , Nolan Center
By
Abi Olvera
By A bi Olvera
Edited by John Moulton and Christopher East
Download full PDF
The views expressed in this briefer belong solely to the author and do not represent those of the U.S. government.
Introduction
Whether to deny service, steal intellectual property, or propagate disinformation, countries such as Russia and North Korea have shown their willingness and ability to conduct malicious cyber activities through times of crisis and relative repose. Attacks on critical infrastructure, biotechnology enterprises, and medical research institutions highlight the need to prioritize prevention, improve detection, and scale national response mechanisms amidst the growing sophistication of malicious actors at this nexus. Such issues, which are increasingly referred to as “cyber-biosecurity” risks, have become a new toolset in the growing sub-threshold arsenals of those that oppose the rules-based international order.
This briefer provides an overview of the trends and critical risks at the nexus of cybersecurity and biosecurity. 1 It then offers high-level recommendations for addressing these risks.
Threat Drivers
Risks in this space are rising due to several trends that this section will explain in brief: rapid advances, democratization of synthetic biology, global proliferation of high-containment facilities, diversification of attack vectors, and diversification of biological targets.
Rapid Advances in Automation
The convergence of robotics, machine learning, cloud computing, and synthetic biology has paved the way for positive advances in automated approaches to biology 2 while simultaneously creating new cyber-biosecurity vulnerabilities. 3 At the same time, distributed manufacturing has increased the risk of unauthorized remote access to sensitive biological data, processes, and products. 4 Automation has quickly become the norm among research and production as well, with cell programming foundry giant Ginkgo signing a $10 million deal with a robotic cloud lab in 2017, expected to double Gingko’s monthly foundry output. 5 Automation in production workflows, paperwork, and quality testing enabled rapid conversion of existing vaccine facilities to swiftly manufacture billions of mRNA vaccine doses at the unprecedented pace and scale needed to combat COVID-19. 6
Democratization of Synthetic Biology
Innovation in the life sciences and biotechnology sectors brings considerable benefit but also increased risks. Synthetic biology is easier, cheaper,
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