Cyberbiosecurity

Advances in computer science, engineering, and data science have changed the research, development, and application of biology and biotechnology in the EU and internationally. The convergence of advances in biotechnology with laboratory automation, access to data, and computational biology has democratized biotechnology. Increased access to biotechnology has also introduced additional security concerns called "cyberbiosecurity threats." Cyberbiosecurity is the intersection of biotechnology, biosecurity, and cybersecurity issuesThe term "cyberbiosecurity" was formerly proposed in 2018 to encompass the emerging discipline at the interface of cybersecurity, cyber-physical security, and biosecurity as applied to biological and biomedical-based systems.

Traditionally, biosecurity focuses on reducing risks associated with the misuse of life science tools and/or knowledge, whereas cybersecurity is focused on securing information in technology-based systems. The objective of the merged discipline of cyberbiosecurity is to address the potential for or actual malicious destruction, misuse, or exploitation of valuable information, processes, and materials at the interface of the life sciences and digital worlds.

In this book, we outlined the foundation of an assessment framework for cyberbiosecurity, accounting for both security and resilience factors in the physical and cyber domains. This book's approach proposes to integrate existing capabilities and proven methodologies from the infrastructure assessment realm (e.g., decision science, physical security, infrastructure resilience, cybersecurity) with new expertise and requirements in the cyberbiosecurity space (e.g., biotechnology, biomanufacturing, genomics) in order to forge a flexible and defensible approach to identifying and mitigating vulnerabilities.