What Can Biology Teach Us About Computer Security?

Dr. Anil Somayaji


ABSTRACT

By using terms such as "infections" and "viruses," computer security professionals routinely invoke biological metaphors to describe malicious software. Despite the gulf between proteins and transistors, bits and DNA, such connections are much more than mere poetic license. Fields such as epidemiology, ecology, immunology, and even human physiology contain many useful lessons on why current computer networks are so vulnerable; these same fields can also provide a roadmap for how to make our networks more secure. This talk will explain how to draw more meaningful connections between biology and computer security, and how these connections can lead to a more secure Internet.

BIOGRAPHY

Anil Somayaji is an assistant professor of Computer Science at Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada. He has a B.S. in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1994) and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of New Mexico (2002).