A Distributed Agent Architecture for a Computer Virus Immune System

Information superiority is identified as an Air Force core competency and is recognized as a key enabler for the success of future missions. Information protection and information assurance are vital components required for achieving superiority in the Infosphere, but these goals are threatened by the exponential birth rate of new computer viruses. The increased global interconnectivity that is empowering advanced information systems is also increasing the spread of malicious code and current anti-virus solutions are quickly becoming overwhelmed by the burden of capturing and classifying new viral stains. To overcome this problem, a distributed computer virus immune system (CVIS) based on biological strategies is developed. The biological immune system (BIS) offers a highly parallel defense-in-depth solution for detecting and eliminating foreign invaders. Each component of the BIS can be viewed as an autonomous agent. Only through the collective actions of this multi-agent system can non-self entities be detected and removed from the body. This research develops a model of the BIS and utilizes software agents to implement a CVIS.Air Force Inst of Tech Wright-Patterson AFB OH is the author of 'A Distributed Agent Architecture for a Computer Virus Immune System' with ISBN 9781423536574 and ISBN 1423536576.