Biological Models of Security for Virus Propagation in Computer Networks

Continuing on in the recent thread on biologically inspired worm defenses, a recent overview paper from Sanjay Goel and Stephen F. Bush.

This article discusses the similarity between the propagation of pathogens (viruses and worms) on computer networks and the proliferation of pathogens in cellular organisms (organisms with genetic material contained within a membraneencased nucleus). It introduces several biological mechanisms which are used in these organisms to protect against such pathogens and presents security models for networked computers inspired by several biological paradigms, including genomics (RNA interference), proteomics (pathway mapping), and physiology (immune system). In addition, the study of epidemiological models for disease control can inspire methods for controlling the spread of pathogens across multiple nodes of a network. It also presents results based on the authors' research in immune system modeling.

Source: biological models of security for virus propagation in computer networks, Sanjay Goel and Stephen F. Bush. This paper appeared in Usenix Login Magazine, December, 2004. For people who don't have a Usenix membership (and therefore can't download the PDF), you can grab a copy of the paper from this alternate site. This paper was pointed out to me by Kamal Hilmi Othman.