Biological data
A medicinal compound made from living organisms, such as a serum or a vaccine, could be characterized as biological data.
In the past few decades, leaps in genomic research have led to massive amounts of biological data.
As a result, bioinformatics was created as the convergence of genomics, biotechnology, and information technology, while concentrating on biological data.
[5] The threat of biohacking has become more apparent as DNA-analysis increases in commonality in fields such as forensic science, clinical research, and genomics.
Researchers have established scenarios that demonstrate the threat of biohacking, such as a hacker reaching a biological sample by hiding malicious DNA on common surfaces, such as lab coats, benches, or rubber gloves, which would then contaminate the genetic data.
[5] However, the threat of biohacking may be mitigated by using similar techniques that are used to prevent conventional injection attacks.
Reinforcement learning can be applied to biological data, in the field of omics, by using RL to predict bacterial genomes.
However, there are risks involved when modeling artifacts when human intervention, such as end user comprehension and control, are lessened.
[11] Electronic health records (EHR) can contain genomic data from millions of patients, and the creation of these databases has resulted in both praise and concern.
Third, the presence of data mining in biological databases can make it easier for individuals with political, social, or economic agendas to manipulate research findings to sway public opinion.
[15] The researchers had used "national data sets with reproductive history and mental health variables"[14] to produce their findings.
As a result, the findings which appeared to give scientific credibility, gave rise to several states enacting legislation[16] that required women to seek counseling before abortions, due to the potential of long-term mental health consequences.
Another article, published in the New York Times, demonstrated how Electronic Health Records (EHR) systems could be manipulated by doctors to exaggerate the amount of care they provided for purposes of Medicare reimbursement.
[19] According to a 2015 study[19] focusing on the attitudes of practices of clinicians and scientific research staff, a majority of the respondents reported data sharing as important to their work, but signified that their expertise in the subject was low.
