Title :
Building diverse computer systems
Author :
Forrest, Stephanie ; Somayaji, Anil ; Ackley, David H.
Author_Institution :
Dept. of Comput. Sci., New Mexico Univ., Albuquerque, NM, USA
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;
Conference_Titel :
Operating Systems, 1997., The Sixth Workshop on Hot Topics in
Conference_Location :
Cape Cod, MA
Print_ISBN :
0-8186-7834-8
DOI :
10.1109/HOTOS.1997.595185