From CIA director John Brennan’s private email to Sony Inc, from the IRS to CVS, from Target to the notorious Ashley Madison, millions of people suffered from cyber security breakdowns across industries. According to the Ponemon Institute, the average cost of damages from data breaches in the US hit a staggering $6.5 million this year, up $600,000 from 2014.
The sophistication and scope of cyber threats are expected to further escalate, yet our defenses remain rudimentary, even medieval. Overwhelmingly, the current strategy is to define the threats, and then build strong defensive walls focused on keeping nefarious agents, viruses or programs out.
The similarity between cyber and biological warfare is tough to ignore: in both cases, we deal with evolving adversaries that grow in complexity and gradually vary their means of attack. But because the immune system discriminates between “self” and “other,” it is so powerful that most of the time we aren’t even consciously aware that we’re under siege. The biological immune system obviously works. So why not extend the metaphor a bit further and build a cyber immune system to protect our digital selves?
How Artificial Immune Systems May Be the Future of Cybersecurity
