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August 26, 2003
The Internet as an organism, virii as ... virii
Zone-H has an insightful interview with an immunologist on the parallels between the role viruses play in strengthening the human immune system, and how viruses actually make the Internet better (or kill it).
Why computer virus writers are useful and we should thank them
I need to learn more about immunology, to see how deep this comparison goes. Security, anti-virus (they are called virii) in particular, has been compared to the immune system (though I think somewhat superficially). I'm sure there's a lot to be learned about computer security by better understanding nature's security mechanisms.
The biggest flaw I see in the comparison is that natural viruses and bacteria (by the Doctor's own admission) are inherently simple. Computer virii and worms are created by humans, so they can be more complex and evolve much faster.
I think a more apt comparison would be with biological weapons, human-engineered virii and bacteria. We deal with nerve gas much differently than we do with the common cold. If we let the human immune system naturally develop a defense against anthrax, instead of imposing an artifical (physical) defense on anthrax, we'd probably not be worrying about Internet security (or anything else) anymore.
Can the virtual Internet organism--the people who build the routers, who write the network and application software, the people who administer the systems, the security overseers, and the average end-user who puts a computer on a broadband connection, and opens attachments allegedly sent by friends--develop immunities faster than the virus writers?
I don't know if I agree that more viruses are better. There's a reason why we celebrate the irradication of smallpox, and why first-world citizens don't drink the water in third-world countries. Is the technology industry really going to stage a come-back if our I.T. people (and computer users) spend increasing amounts of time and money fixing bugs, patching systems, and cleaning up after the fact? The human immune system works well because we don't spend much time thinking about it--the Internet immune system is anywhere nearly as efficient.
I need to learn more about immunology.
Posted by pete at August 26, 2003 11:47 AM
Comments
By analogy, an Internet immune system should provide:
1. a memory of previous infections,
2. a method of elimination of dangerous foreign activities, and
3. a method of protecting the Internet immune system itself from attack
Posted by: alex at November 9, 2003 2:38 PM