“CTTCGAACTGATCA… what is that to you? Many of us could say that it is genetic code, but we probably haven’t thought much about it since high school. What if I told you that the cutting edge of genetic research looked nearly identical to the bits and bytes that we deal with as malware researchers, reverse engineers, hackers, and software engineers? The two fields are rapidly converging to the point where the exact same tools are as useful for detecting mutations in E. Coli as they are for picking 0-day exploits off the wire. The connection is not just skin deep; nature has evolved data structures that make the most complex computer systems pale in comparison to the simplest microbe. Researchers are painstakingly building understanding of those complex systems, and the tools and techniques that we hackers use every day have the potential to save these researchers hours, days, even months of work. Yet, most biologists don’t even know the tools exist. Welcome to the future, where the brand new field of bioinformatics erases the line between biologists and hackers.

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