The Importance of Input Validation

I first saw this one come across a social media feed, so I didn't believe it until I had actually found the orginal source. Lo and behold - Biohackers Encode Malware in DNA

In new research they plan to present at the USENIX Security conference on Thursday, a group of researchers from the University of Washington has shown for the first time that it’s possible to encode malicious software into physical strands of DNA, so that when a gene sequencer analyzes it the resulting data becomes a program that corrupts gene-sequencing software and takes control of the underlying computer.

If you have a little knowledge of genetics, it's not really that much of a leap - it's an inspired leap, but since genes really are just software, it's not that far. As an attack vector it's artful and ironic. And it shows that all software should do input validation. I'm not sure of the practicality of this particular attack, but it definitely shows imagination.