Soma at 18:53, 25 March 2025

2025-03-25T18:53:02Z

← Older revision		Revision as of 18:53, 25 March 2025
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	* How does trust relate to biologically-inspired security?		* How does trust relate to biologically-inspired security?
	* What do you think of the panel question "Is there anything left to learn?" Is it the right question to ask about biologically-inspired security?		* What do you think of the panel question "Is there anything left to learn?" Is it the right question to ask about biologically-inspired security?

			==Notes==

			<pre>
			Lecture 20
			----------

			G1
			- biology has created working security systems, so reasonable to try replicating
			- trust is the basis of everything, including bio-inspired security
			- question is a bit stubborn
			- hasn't been good for past scientists who have said this
			- was more "what's next to learn"
			- how can you replicate vaccines in computers?
			- computer vaccines would also have to change over time in response
			to attacker innovation
			- "inactivated malware"?
			- barely scratched the surface of how the brain works, so still lots to learn

			G2
			- evolution is a testbed for security mechanisms in biology
			- biological entities don't protect secrets
			- we keep learning more about biology
			- what is the purpose of learning from biology?
			- we've pulled in the big concepts, so we may be on the downward slope
			- focus on more niche features of biology
			- we've used the big ones

			G3
			- bio-inspired security is based on a system that evolved, so is related to evolution
			- trust arises in how malicious activities can be detected and stopped while normal system functioning is allowed to proceed
			- question is what is left to learn
			- gap between fields seems to be growing, not much communication
			- lots of crossover between other fields, why isn't it there in security?



			Project presentations
			- 5-10 minute presentations
			- just present your project
			- basic idea
			- what you've done
			- what you're going to do
			- make sure to spend 1-2 slides explaining the research problem/area
			- why are you doing this work?
			- for the literature review part, give a high-level overview
			of past work
			- for proposals, do a brief lit review (1-2 slides) then describe
			your proposed research
			- have between 5-10 slides
			- 5 is probably enough


			- "Principles" was my first first-author publication
			- the principles part holds up today in terms of "what is cool" about
			immunology from a computer security perspective
			- Panel came out of a rejected paper
			- bit of a consolation prize


			No "subsystem" in biology does exactly what you think it does
			- the systems evolved, they weren't designed
			- so no clear separation of concerns
			- immune system is for maintaining homeostasis, not "security"
			- co-existence is always an option
			- immune system is also a "distributed nervous system"
			- neurotransmitters are similar or are the same as the chemicals that
			immune cells use to communicate

			When we talk about "bio inspired security" or any cross-disciplinary work,
			we are comparing models to models
			- mapping models onto models is a subtle business
			- can often lead to more confusion than clarity

			living systems evolved, so they survived in the face of evolving threats
			- neat trick to learn for computer security!
			- but...do we understand how they evolved?

			Rather than metaphors, I want to get at underlying principles
			- solid foundations rather than shaky mappings

			That foundation is clearly evolution, at least in part
			- but I think we got evolution wrong

			evolution (to me) is an interplay between cooperation and conflict
			- cooperation is a key survival strategy
			- but cooperation is only safe if it is with those you trust
			- those who won't betray you for personal or short-term gain

			The central problem of computer security is making sure systems cooperate
			only with those who are trustworthy
			- more than "authorized" as credentials can be compromised

			so from this perspective, computer security IS the problem of how to evolve computers in a world where trust isn't assumed

			(note we mostly assume code, systems, services are trustworthy and thus can be trusted, and when they aren't our systems just break horribly)

			bio-inspired security is the process of learning from systems that don't assume trust - how can they be built, how can they work?
			- but living systems are interesting just to the extent they are examples of such systems
			</pre>

Soma: Created page with "==Readings== * [https://homeostasis.scs.carleton.ca/~soma/pubs/somayaji-nspw97.pdf Somayaji, "Principles of a Computer Immune System." (NSPW 1997)] * [https://homeostasis.scs.carleton.ca/~soma/pubs/nspw-2007-biopanel.pdf Somayaji, "Panel: The Future of Biologically-Inspired Security: Is There Anything Left to Learn?" (NSPW 2008)] ==Discussion Questions== * How does evolution relate to biologically-inspired security? * How does trust relate to biologically-inspired sec..."

2025-03-25T15:30:13Z

Created page with "==Readings== * [https://homeostasis.scs.carleton.ca/~soma/pubs/somayaji-nspw97.pdf Somayaji, "Principles of a Computer Immune System." (NSPW 1997)] * [https://homeostasis.scs.carleton.ca/~soma/pubs/nspw-2007-biopanel.pdf Somayaji, "Panel: The Future of Biologically-Inspired Security: Is There Anything Left to Learn?" (NSPW 2008)] ==Discussion Questions== * How does evolution relate to biologically-inspired security? * How does trust relate to biologically-inspired sec..."

New page

==Readings==

* [https://homeostasis.scs.carleton.ca/~soma/pubs/somayaji-nspw97.pdf Somayaji, "Principles of a Computer Immune System." (NSPW 1997)]
* [https://homeostasis.scs.carleton.ca/~soma/pubs/nspw-2007-biopanel.pdf Somayaji, "Panel: The Future of Biologically-Inspired Security: Is There Anything Left to Learn?" (NSPW 2008)]

==Discussion Questions==

* How does evolution relate to biologically-inspired security?
* How does trust relate to biologically-inspired security?
* What do you think of the panel question "Is there anything left to learn?" Is it the right question to ask about biologically-inspired security?

EvoSec 2025W Lecture 20 - Revision history

Soma at 18:53, 25 March 2025