Te`c~h f%re@k

In the never-ending battle to protect computer networks from intruders, security experts are deploying a new defence, modelled on one of nature's hardiest creatures - the ant.The concept, called "swarm intelligence", promises to transform cyber security because it adapts readily to changing threats.

"In nature, we know that ants defend against threats very successfully," explains Errin Fulp, computer science professor and expert in security and computer networks, at the Wake Forest University (WFU). Glenn Fink, research scientist at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) in Richland, Washington, came up with the idea of copying ant behaviour. PNNL, one of 10 Department of Energy (DoE) labs, conducts cutting-edge research in cyber security.

Fink was familiar with Fulp's expertise developing faster scans using parallel processing - dividing computer data into batches like lines of shoppers going through grocery store checkouts, where each lane is focussed on certain threats.

He invited Fulp and Wake Forest graduate students Wes Featherstun and Brian Williams to join a project there this summer that tested digital ants on a network of 64 computers.

Swarm intelligence, the approach developed by PNNL and Wake Forest, divides up the process of searching for specific threats, says a WFU release.

"Our idea is to deploy 3,000 different types of digital ants, each looking for evidence of a threat," Fulp says.

Labels: Technical