Clean-slate design of Resilient, Adaptive, Secure Hosts (CRASH)
Abstract
The Clean-slate design of Resilient, Adaptive, Secure Hosts (CRASH) program will develop cyber security technologies using the mechanisms of biological systems as inspiration for radically re-thinking basic hardware and system designs. Higher level organisms have two distinct immune systems: the innate system is fast and deadly but is only effective against a fixed set of pathogens; the adaptive system is slower, but can learn to recognize novel pathogens. Similarly, CRASH will develop mechanisms at the hardware and operating system level that eliminate known vulnerabilities exploited by attackers. However, because novel attacks will be developed, CRASH will also develop software techniques that allow a computer system to defend itself, to maintain its capabilities, and even heal itself. Finally, biological systems show that diversity is an effective population defense; CRASH will develop techniques that make each computer system appear unique to the attacker and allow each system to change over time.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Accomplishment
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2014
- Source ID
- 67281c31073f6b3e2e6d2cf4c9db2044