Ants' behavior inspires new computer antivirus software
By siliconindia   |   Monday, 09 November 2009, 22:04 IST   |    6 Comments
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Ants' behavior inspires new computer antivirus software
Bangalore: Having studied the behavior of ants when their colony is under threat, the scientists are inspired to develop a new generation of antivirus software for computers. The "digital ants" will wander through computer networks looking for invaders. When an ant detects one, it calls for an army of reinforcements to join the fight. Ants use "swarming intelligence" to deter intruders. When one ant detects a threat, he is soon joined by many others to overwhelm their opponent. The strategy is now being incorporated into security software under test by a team at Wake Forest University, North Carolina, U.S. The researchers believe that the new ant-based system will run faster than conventional security programs, which have to be updated constantly to recognize new infections. According to Glenn Fink, a Researcher, as the ants move about the network, they leave digital trails modelled after the scent trails ants in nature use to guide other ants. He said, "Each time a digital ant identifies some evidence, it is programmed to leave behind a stronger scent. Stronger scent trails attract more ants, producing the swarm that marks a potential computer infection." Errin Fulp, a Professor of Computer Science said, "In nature, we know that ants defend against threats very successfully. They can ramp up their defence rapidly, and then resume routine behavior quickly after an intruder has been stopped. We were trying to achieve that same framework in a computer system." Also, Fink added, "Our idea is to deploy 3,000 different types of digital ants, each looking for evidence of a threat."

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