Data for A biodiversity approach to cyber security

Whilst the idea of diversity benefiting computer security is not new, there are still gaps in understanding its advantages. A mathematical and an agent-based model have been developed using the ecosystem as a framework. Biodiversity is generated by individualised software stacks defined as genotypes with multiple loci.

The models allow the protection offered by diversity to be quantified for ad hoc networks which are expected to become prevalent in the future by specifying how much diversity is needed to tolerate or mitigate two abstract representations of malware encompassing different ways multiple exploits target software stack layers. Outputs include the key components of ecosystem stability: resistance and resilience. Results show that diversity by itself can reduce susceptibility, increase resistance, and increase the time taken for malware to spread, thereby allowing networks to tolerate malware and maintain Quality of Service.

When dynamic diversity is used as part of a multi-layered defence strategy with additional mechanisms such as blacklisting, virtualisation, and recovery through patching and signature based protection, diversity becomes more effective since the power of dynamic software updating can be utilised to mitigate attacks whilst maintaining network operations.<br><br>There are five directories. 1. AgentGUIFrameworkModel - This is the GUI framework for the agent based model 2.

AgentModel - This is a more efficient agent based model with no GUI 3. DeterministicModel - Deterministic model 4. StochasticModel - Stochastic model 5.

DiversityRelationships - Functions used for calculating diversity All models have been developed using MATLAB