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A Security (Immune) System

   

The Noema has an aggressive security system. This systems detects and eliminates intrusions as well as repairs damage. The four fundamental components of a security system of protect, detect, eradicate, and restore are in effect.

Let me introduce these components of security with a simple example. Consider the problem of securing a room. First lock the door. This is protection.

Now, install a room monitor that detects when the door is open or closed and if there is any motion in the room. This is detection. When the room is secured the monitor should indicate that the door is locked and closed and the room is empty. Only on explicit known occasions should the door be unlocked and the room occupied. In all other cases the monitor should detect an intrusion.

Guards watch the room monitor. If an intrusion is detected the guards come to the room and mediate the effects of the intrusion. This is eradication.

Once the intrusion is eradicated, reestablish the door lock, and the room monitor. This is restoration.

Some intrusions may come in the form of a virus which may have assumed a false identity. One of the main tasks of the security system is to identify these intrusions, catalog their signature, and remove them from the system. The security system is pro-active by pre-allocating resources to protect, detect, eradicate, and restore from a security violation event.



Ronald LeRoi Burback
Wed Jul 30 15:24:07 PDT 1997