'We’ve been behind the ball for so long': Experts say DNA samples from crime-scene forensics can be modified and even switched using an AI tool

DNA on crime-scene forensics could be modified and switched

News By Benedict Collins Published 3 August 2026

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• Researchers discover critical vulnerability in forensic software that allows the undetectable modification of DNA samples on crime-scene evidence
• The vulnerability allows much of the crime-scene evidence from the past 30 years to be modified
• A patch is in the works, and the company responsible for the software says that digital signatures have been implemented to monitor for modification attempts

A group of forensic and computer scientists have raised concerns about the security of software used by top US crime labs to analyze DNA evidence.

By using an AI model, the researchers were able to undetectably modify computerized scans of physical DNA evidence, exclusive Wall Street Journal reported. As the vulnerability relates to digital files made by crime labs since 1995, the vulnerability places 30 years of crime files at risk of being tampered with.

“Effectively, what we have are data files that are legitimately referred to as the gold standard of forensic science that lack the same level of tamper-evident markings that we require for a paper bag,” said Laura Gaydosh Combs, a University of New Haven professor and forensic scientist who contributed to the research.

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No known instances of ‘undetectable’ exploitation

The researchers disclosed the vulnerability in May. Thermo Fisher Scientific, the company that builds the crime-lab equipment used across most US facilities, privately acknowledging the vulnerability in July 2026. The company said that a fix is currently in progress.

In a separate note to customers, Thermo Fisher Scientific said there were no known instances of the vulnerability being exploited.

But the researchers themselves have said that they could not find a way to detect if tampering had taken place. The vulnerability was tested by Nathan Adams, a systems engineer at Forensic Bioinformatics. In just 45 minutes, Adams managed to successfully exploit the vulnerability using Anthropic’s Claude, and modify a file.

Despite some of the files being sealed using a more advanced encryption algorithm, Adams was able to find and use a decryption key available on the internet to crack into these files.

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