Building diverse computer systems

Author

Forrest, Stephanie ; Somayaji, Anil ; Ackley, David H.

Author_Institution

Dept. of Comput. Sci., New Mexico Univ., Albuquerque, NM, USA

fYear

1997

fDate

5-6 May 1997

Firstpage

67

Lastpage

72

Abstract

Diversity is an important source of robustness in biological systems. Computers, by contrast, are notable for their lack of diversity. Although homogeneous systems have many advantages, the beneficial effects of diversity in computing systems have been overlooked, specifically in the area of computer security. Several methods of achieving software diversity are discussed based on randomizations that respect the specified behavior of the program. Such randomization could potentially increase the robustness of software systems with minimal impact on convenience, usability, and efficiency. Randomization of the amount of memory allocated on a stack frame is shown to disrupt a simple buffer overflow attack

Keywords

buffer storage; operating systems (computers); security of data; software management; storage allocation; storage management; computer security; computing systems; diverse computer systems; memory allocation; randomizations; robustness; simple buffer overflow attack; software diversity; specified behavior; stack frame; Biology computing; Computer science; Computer security; Diseases; Ecosystems; Hardware; Immune system; Operating systems; Robustness; Usability;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Operating Systems, 1997., The Sixth Workshop on Hot Topics in

Conference_Location

Cape Cod, MA

Print_ISBN

0-8186-7834-8

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/HOTOS.1997.595185

Filename

595185