Immunology, diversity, and homeostasis: The past and future of biologically inspired computer defenses

While biological metaphors have a long history of use in computer security, they have been more successful in describing malicious software than in helping to create better defenses. Immune system mechanisms, diversity, and homeostasis have helped inspire the development of promising computer security technologies. To fulfill the promise of biologically inspired security, however, more work is needed in understanding how living systems defend themselves and how those ideas can be brought to computers. This paper presents past successes, limitations, and opportunities for future work in this promising area. It then also addresses why there are significant barriers to such advances.