Building diverse computer systems

Abstract

Diversity is an important source of robustness in biological systems. Computers, by contrast, are notable for their lack of diversity. Although homogeneous systems have many advantages, the beneficial effects of diversity in computing systems have been overlooked, specifically in the area of computer security. Several methods of achieving software diversity are discussed based on randomizations that respect the specified behavior of the program. Such randomization could potentially increase the robustness of software systems with minimal impact on convenience, usability, and efficiency. Randomization of the amount of memory allocated on a stack frame is shown to disrupt a simple buffer overflow attack.