DARPA Looking to Reinvent Network Security, With Inspiration from Adaptive Biological Systems
Immune-Based Computers The military's crazy-research wing is seeking computer systems modeled on the human immune system, for its ability to track down invaders, fight them off and repair itself. Ideally, the computers would be able to respond to any possible enemy attack ... even thermonuclear war. United Artists When it comes to self-aware, self-healing organisms, the human body is pretty well unmatched. So naturally, DARPA wants to match it. The military's mad-science wing is seeking new computer systems that would be highly resistant to cyber-attack, and if they are successfully attacked, able to adapt and recover. The so-called Clean-Slate Design of Resilient, Adaptive, Secure Hosts (CRASH) program seeks brand-new computers modeled on the human immune system. As DARPA points out, even the most advanced computers are incapable of recovering on their own from attacks, either by finding new ways to complete their tasks or by repairing themselves. The human immune...