A first proposal for secure data storage into DNA molecules compliant with biological constraints

International audienceenvisioned in 2025. To respond to associated storage needs, technologies as flash memoryand hard drives reach their limits in terms of: density; energy and ecological costs; durabilityfor long term storage. In this context, data storage on DNA molecules has recently been shownas very promising. DNA storage could be 106 times more dense than hard drives, with alifetime 10 to 20 times longer and an energy consumption closed to zero (molecules can bekept at room temperature with no maintenance).In this work, we are interested in securing archived data. DNA storage being a new technology,the opportunity presents itself to integrate this critical aspect at the biological level, contrarilyto what has been done for electronical storage means. In fact, information must be securedat every step of the DNA data storage chain. Data integrity and confidentiality are among themain issues with threats like data modification (e.g. writing of new data) or the theft of theDNA storage support by an attacker. Herein, we propose a solution for writing encrypted dataonto synthetic DNA molecules considering DNA synthesis and the error-correction codeconstraints. Indeed, DNA sequences should conform to structural constraints dictated by thisbiological process and sequencing