Microbiological technology has indeed reached a major breakthrough in DNA sequencing. With the constant proliferation of companies offering services for DNA analysis, the price for sequencing a genome has dramatically dropped from millions of dollars a decade ago to roughly $500 at present. Although this can be advantageous and promising in the medical field, the risk of compromising the privacy of genetic information through genetic identity theft can also present devastation to one’s life.
DNA identity theft, otherwise known as genetic identity theft, is a practice in which a criminal steals someone else’s genetic code for the purpose of posing as such or faking the whereabouts of the DNA’s owner. A good example of this act includes planting someone else’s hair strands or skin flakes in crime scenes in order to effectively fabricate pieces of evidence. Scenarios like this clearly demonstrate the potential havoc that genetic identity theft can present to its victim’s life.
With the possibility of duplicating a physical attribute (i.e., genetic sequence), concerns about the security of biometric identification systems have already become a modern scientific inquiry. Considering that biometrics are primarily based on DNA and fingerprints, the possibility of fraud and security breach within institutions implementing this technology cannot therefore be disregarded.
Faced with such grave circumstances, companies and corporations that are responsible for the maintenance of security in our identities are confronted with pressing challenges to boost identification methods and security measures up by integrating biometrics, memory, and other identifying documents. After all, fighting for the security of one’s identity is worthy to be devoted for.
Genetic identity theft is indeed different from other types of identity theft. Unlike credit cards which can relatively be easy to be blocked or replaced, our individual DNAs stay with us forever. If it falls into the wrong hands, its consequences will therefore continue to haunt us all throughout our lives.
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