Tag Archives: passwords

Unlock a computer with information encoded in a synthetic molecule

Leave a reply

A May 16, 2025 news item on ScienceDaily announced a new (albeit expensive) method for using passwords,

Molecules like DNA are capable of storing large amounts of data without requiring an energy source, but accessing this molecular data is expensive and time consuming. Publishing May 16 [2025] in the Cell Press journal Chem, researchers have developed an alternative method to encode information in synthetic molecules, which they used to encode and then decode an 11-character password to unlock a computer.

…

Caption: Message encoded in a molecule Credit: Pandey et al., Chem License: CC BY-SA

A May 16, 2025 Cell Press press release on EurekAlert, which originated the news item, provides more detail,

“Molecules can store information for very long periods without needing power. Nature has given us the proof of principle that this works,” says corresponding author and electrical engineer Praveen Pasupathy of the University of Texas at Austin. “This is the first attempt to write information in a building block of a plastic that can then be read back using electrical signals, which takes us a step closer to storing information in an everyday material.”  

Traditional storage devices like hard drives and flash drives have drawbacks, such as high maintenance costs, energy consumption, and short lifespans that make them unsuitable for long-term data archiving. Molecules could provide an alternative option, and prior studies have shown that DNA and synthetic polymers can be designed to effectively store information. However, decoding these molecules usually involves expensive pieces of equipment, for example, mass spectrometers.  

To make molecular messages that are easier to write and read, the team decided to try a different approach: designing molecules that contain electrochemical information—a method that allows messages to be decoded using electrical signals. 

“Our approach has the potential to be scaled down to smaller, more economical devices compared to traditional spectrometry-based systems,” says senior author and chemist Eric Anslyn of the University of Texas at Austin. “It opens exciting prospects for interfacing chemical encoding with modern electronic systems and devices.” 

To start, the team built an alphabet of characters using four different monomers, or molecular building blocks with different electrochemical properties. Each character was composed of different combinations of the four monomers, which yielded a total of 256 possible characters. To test the method, they used the molecular alphabet to synthesize a chain-like polymer representing an 11-character password (‘Dh&@dR%P0W¢’), which they subsequently decoded using a method based on the molecules’ electrochemical properties. 

The team’s decoding method takes advantage of the fact that certain chain-like polymers can be broken down by removing one building block at a time from the end of the chain. Since the monomers were designed to have unique electrochemical properties, this step-by-step degradation results in electrical signals that can be used to decipher the sequential identity of the monomers within the polymer. 

“The voltage gives you one piece of information —the identity of the monomer currently being degraded—and so we scan through different voltages and watch this movie of the molecule being broken down, which tells us which monomer is being degraded at which point in time,” says Pasupathy. “Once we pinpoint which monomers are where, we can piece that together to get the identities of the characters in our encoded alphabet.” 

One downside of the method is that each molecular message can only be read once, since decoding the polymers involves degrading them. The decoding process also takes time—around 2.5 hours for the 11-character password—but the team are working on methods to speed up the process. 

“While this method does not yet overcome the destructive or time-intensive aspects of sequencing, it takes a first step toward the ultimate goal of developing portable, integrated technologies for polymer-based data storage,” says Anslyn. “The next step is to interface the polymers with integrated circuits, where the computer chips become the readout system for the stored information.” 

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Electrochemical sequencing of sequence-defined ferrocene-containing oligourethanes by Bipin Pandey, Bharadwaj Muralidharan, Tianmu Ma, Akshi Pant, Matthew Onorato, Kenneth A. Johnson, Ananth Dodabalapur, Praveen Pasupathy, Eric V. Anslyn. Chem, 2025; 102571 DOI: 10.1016/j.chempr.2025.102571

This paper is behind a paywall.

A biochemical means of protecting passwords and anti-counterfeiting solution for art and other precious goods

Leave a reply

I guess you could say my passwords are as precious to me as a piece.of art is to some people.

DNA can be used to confirm the authenticity of valuable art prints. (AI-​generated image: ETH Zurich)

An April 8, 2024 ETH Zurich press release (also on EurekAlert) by Fabio Bergamin features an approach that could make passwords secure from quantum computers, Note: A link has been removed,

Security experts fear Q-​Day, the day when quantum computers become so powerful that they can crack today’s passwords. Some experts estimate that this day will come within the next ten years. Password checks are based on cryptographic one-​way functions, which calculate an output value from an input value. This makes it possible to check the validity of a password without transmitting the password itself: the one-​way function converts the password into an output value that can then be used to check its validity in, say, online banking. What makes one-​way functions special is that it’s impossible to use their output value to deduce the input value – in other words, the password. At least not with today’s resources. However, future quantum computers could make this kind of inverse calculation easier.

Researchers at ETH Zurich have now presented a cryptographic one-​way function that works differently from today’s and will also be secure in the future. Rather than processing the data using arithmetic operations, it is stored as a sequence of nucleotides – the chemical building blocks of DNA.

Based on true randomness

“Our system is based on true randomness. The input and output values are physically linked, and it’s only possible to get from the input value to the output value, not the other way round,” explains Robert Grass, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences. “Since it’s a physical system and not a digital one, it can’t be decoded by an algorithm, not even by one that runs on a quantum computer,” adds Anne Lüscher, a doctoral student in Grass’s group. She is the lead author of the paper, which was published in the journal Nature Communications.

The researchers’ new system can serve as a counterfeit-​proof way of certifying the authenticity of valuable objects such as works of art. The technology could also be used to trace raw materials and industrial products.

How it works

The new biochemical one-​way function is based on a pool of one hundred million different DNA molecules. Each of the molecules contains two segments featuring a random sequence of nucleotides: one segment for the input value and one for the output value. There are several hundred identical copies of each of these DNA molecules in the pool, and the pool can also be divided into several pools; these are identical because they contain the same random DNA molecules. The pools can be located in different places, or they can be built into objects.

Anyone in possession of this DNA pool holds the security system’s lock. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) can be used to test a key, or input value, which takes the form of a short sequence of nucleotides. During the PCR, this key searches the pool of hundreds of millions of DNA molecules for the molecule with the matching input value, and the PCR then amplifies the output value located on the same molecule. DNA sequencing is used to make the output value readable.

At first glance, the principle seems complicated. “However, producing DNA molecules with built-​in randomness is cheap and easy,” Grass says. The production costs for a DNA pool that can be divided up in this way are less than 1 Swiss franc. Using DNA sequencing to read out the output value is more time-​consuming and expensive, but many biology laboratories already possess the necessary equipment.

Securing valuable goods and supply chains

ETH Zurich has applied for a patent on this new technology. The researchers now want to optimise and refine it to bring it to market. Because using the method calls for specialised laboratory infrastructure, the scientists think the most likely application for this form of password verification is currently for highly sensitive goods or for access to buildings with restricted access. This technology won’t be an option for the broader public to check passwords until DNA sequencing in particular becomes easier.

A little more thought has already gone into the idea of using the technology for the forgery-​proof certification of works of art. For instance, if there are ten copies of a picture, the artist can mark them all with the DNA pool – perhaps by mixing the DNA into the paint, spraying it onto the picture or applying it to a specific spot.

If several owners later wish to have the authenticity of these artworks confirmed, they can get together, agree on a key (i.e. an input value) and carry out the DNA test. All the copies for which the test produces the same output value will have been proven genuine. The new technology could also be used to link crypto-​assets such as NFTs, which exist only in the digital world, to an object and thus to the physical world.

Furthermore, it would support counterfeit-​proof tracking along supply chains of industrial goods or raw materials. “The aviation industry, for example, has to be able to provide complete proof that it uses only original components. Our technology can guarantee traceability,” Grass says. In addition, the method could be used to label the authenticity of original medicines or cosmetics.

Here’s a link to and a citation for the paper,

Chemical unclonable functions based on operable random DNA pools by Anne M. Luescher, Andreas L. Gimpel, Wendelin J. Stark, Reinhard Heckel & Robert N. Grass. Nature Communications volume 15, Article number: 2955 (2024) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-47187-7 Published: 05 April 2024

This paper is open access.

DARPA, innovation, passwords, people, and nanotherapeutics

1 Reply

There have been a few articles recently about (US) DARPA (Defense Advance Research Projects Agency) that have roused my interest in how they view innovation and business. The first piece I’m mentioning is a request for a proposal (RFP) on nanotherapeutics in a Nov. 22, 2011 news item on Nanowerk,

Through the U.S. Department of Defense’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, DARPA is currently soliciting research proposals to develop a platform capable of rapidly synthesizing therapeutic nanoparticles targeted against evolving and engineered pathogens (SB121-003: Rapidly Adaptable Nanotherapeutics pdf).

Here’s part of the problem they’re trying to solve,

Acquired resistance compromises our ability to fight emergent bacterial threats in injured warfighters and our military treatment facilities. For burn patients in particular, multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter calcoaceticus-baumannii complex (ABC) is a common cause of nosocomial infection, causing severe morbidity as well as longer hospital stays. Typically, antimicrobial resistant infections require a hospital stay three times as long and are in excess of four times as expensive. Therefore, new and innovative methods to control bacterial infection in the military health system are of critical importance.

Here’s what they want,

Recent advances in nanomaterials, genome sequencing, nucleotide synthesis, and bioinformatics could converge in nanotherapeutics with tailored sequence, specificity, and function that can overcome earlier challenges. Collectively, these core technologies could permit the development of an innovative pharmaceutical platform composed of nanoparticles with tethered small interfering RNA (siRNA) oligonucelotides whose sequence and objective can be reprogrammed “on-the-fly” to inhibit multiple targets within multiple classes of pathogens.

This topic is focused on the development of a revolutionary rapidly adaptable nanotherapeutic platform effective against evolving and engineered pathogens. The biocompatible materials used to fabricate the nanoparticle should optimize cellular targeting, intracellular concentration, target sequence affinity, resistance to nuclease, and knockdown of target genes. The platform should leverage state-of-the-art genomic sequencing and oligonucleotide synthesis technologies to permit rapid programmability against evolving biologic threats.

I have taken a look at the RFP and, predictably, there’s a militaristic element to the introduction,

DARPA’s mission is to prevent technological surprise for the United States and to create technological surprise for its adversaries. The DARPA SBIR [Small Business Innovation Research] and STTR [Small Business Technology Transfer] Programs are designed to provide small, high-tech businesses and academic institutions the opportunity to propose radical, innovative, high-risk approaches to address existing and emerging national security threats; thereby supporting DARPA’s overall strategy to bridge the gap between fundamental discoveries and the provision of new military capabilities. (p. 1)

In short, we should never be caught with our pants down but we would like to catch our enemies in that position.

I was surprised to find that the responders are expected to create a business plan that includes information about markets, customers, and sales (from the RFP),

5. Market/Customer Sets/Value Proposition – Describe the market and customer sets you propose to target, their size, and their key reasons they would consider procuring the technology.

• What is the current size of the broad market you plan to enter and the “niche” market opportunity you are addressing?

• What are the growth trends for the market and the key trends in the industry that you are planning to target?

• What features of your technology will allow you to provide a compelling value proposition?

DARPA – 3

• Have you validated the significance of these features and if not, how do you plan to validate?

6. Competition Assessment – Describe the competition in these markets/customer sets and your anticipated advantage (e.g., function, performance, price, quality, etc.)

7. Funding Requirements – List your targeted funding sources (e.g., federal, state and local, private (internal, loan, angel, venture capital, etc.) and your proposed plan and schedule to secure this funding.

Provide anticipated funding requirements both during and after Phase II required to:

• mature the technology

• as required, mature the manufacturing processes

• test and evaluate the technology

• receive required certifications

• secure patents, or other protections of intellectual property

• manufacture the technology to bring the technology to market for use in operational environments

• market/sell technology to targeted customers

8. Sales Projections – Provide a schedule that outlines your anticipated sales projections and indicate when you anticipate breaking even. (pp. 2-3)

I do understand that the US has a military-industrial complex which fuels much of the country’s economic growth; I just hadn’t expected that the military would care as much as they do (as per this RFP) about  their suppliers’ business plans and financial health. It makes sense. After all, you want your suppliers to stay in business as it’s expensive and time-consuming to find new ones.

I don’t know if this is a new philosophy for the agency but it does seem to fit nicely with the current director’s Regina Dugan’s approach. From a Q & A between Dugan and Adam L. Penenberg for an Oct. 19, 2011 article in Fast Company,

That seems a key part of your mission since you got here–that it’s not enough to be doing cutting-edge research.
When deputy director Kaigham Gabriel and I got here, we understood that DARPA is one of the gems of the nation. We had been asked to take good care of her. For me, part of that meant really understanding why DARPA has this half-century of success in innovation. And the first element in DARPA’s success is the power that lies at the intersection of basic science and application, in the so-called Pasteur’s Quadrant. Do you know Stokes’s theory of innovation?

Absolutely not.
Donald E. Stokes wrote a theory of innovation in the late 1990s. Till then, most people thought of innovation as a linear process. You do basic science; then you do more advanced science; then you do the application work; then you commercialize it. What Stokes suggested is that it doesn’t happen that way at all. He preferred to think of it in a quadrant fashion, defining one row as very deep science and the other as light science; the two columns were a low-application drive and a high-application drive. Pasteur’s Quadrant happens at the deep-science-, high-application-drive quadrant. That’s DARPA’s absolute power lane. It’s called Pasteur’s Quadrant because serious concerns about food safety drove his research.

A very recent example of how it works for us is the blast-gauge work that we do. Here’s a big problem: TBI, traumatic brain injuries. So the way we approach it at DARPA is to say, “Okay, let’s understand the basic science, the phenomenology. How is it that an encounter with a blast injures the brain? What levels of blasts cause what levels of injury? Is it the overpressure? Is it the acceleration? What is it?” A medical person from DARPA researched this and discovered it was the overpressure. And the DARPA physicist says, “We know how to measure that.” Together, they devise this little blast gauge that’s the size of a couple stacks of quarters [the gauge helps doctors measure a soldier’s blast-exposure level, enabling better assessment of injuries]. They develop it in one year, going through four iterations of the electronics. That’s fast.

All of this leads back to the idea of shipping products. The defense world is like a mini-society. It has to deploy to anyplace in the world on a moment’s notice, and it has to work in a life-or-death situation. That kind of focus, that kind of drive to ship an application, really does inspire greater genius. And the constancy of funding that comes with that–in good times or bad, whether this party or that party is in power–also helps inspire innovation.

Dugan later goes on to describe her first weeks at DARPA (she was sworn in July 2009) where she and the deputy director made it their mission to meet every single person on staff, all 217 of them.

Still on the theme of innovation and DARPA, there’s a Nov. 16, 2011 article, DARPA Is After Your Password, by Neal Ungerleider in Fast Company which has to be of huge interest to anyone who has passwords,

According to DARPA press materials, the agency is focusing on creating cutting-edge biometric identification products that can identify an individual user through their individual typing style. In the future, DARPA hopes smart computers will be able to verify account-holders’ identities through their typing speed, finger motions and quirks of movement.

…

Materials published by DARPA seem to indicate that researchers at the agency believe most contemporary account passwords–at least those adhering to best practices–are clunky, hard to remember, and ultimately insecure. According to program manager Richard Guidorizzi, “My house key will get you into my house, but the dog in my living room knows you’re not me. No amount of holding up my key and saying you’re me is going to convince my dog you’re who you say you are. My dog knows you don’t look like me, smell like me or act like me. What we want out of this program is to find those things that are unique to you, and not some single aspect of computer security that an adversary can use to compromise your system.”

…

Nobody likes entering passwords. Nobody likes remembering passwords. Nobody likes forgetting passwords. Creating a painless, easy, and secure password-replacement system will be a major cash cow for any firm that can effectively bring it to market. [emphasis mine]

My enthusiasm for a world without passwords aside, I do note the interest in having the technology come to market. I wonder if DARPA will accrue some financial benefit, i.e. a licensing agreement. I did quickly skim the RFP but was unable to confirm or disprove this notion.