User blog comment:Master Sima Yi/Assassinews 28-02-'13 — Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag revealed/@comment-91.196.38.19-20130301115110/@comment-1153722-20130301132557

Abstergo retrieved Desmond's body from the Grand Temple. Using the Animus, they extracted Desmond's DNA (and thus his genetic memories) and uploaded it to the.

In other words, Abstergo now has access to all memories of Desmond and his ancestors.