What Biology Can (And Can'T) Teach Us About Security

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Presented at 13th USENIX Security Symposium 2004 by

David Evans

Nature provides an existence proof that complex, robust behavior can be produced from remarkably simple programs. Nearly all species become extinct, but some manage to thrive in hostile environments full of competitors, predators and parasites. I will present some observations about security problems and solutions found in nature. Successful natural solutions provide useful inspiration, but substantial differences between the natural and virtual worlds make it challenging to apply nature's security approaches to computer security problems.