[CSL Colloq] The Skynet Virus * 4:15PM, Wed Nov 12, 2003 in Gates B03

              COMPUTER SYSTEMS LABORATORY COLLOQUIUM             
                 4:15PM, Wednesday, Nov 12, 2003                
       NEC Auditorium, Gates Computer Science Building B03       
                   http://ee380.stanford.edu[1]                  

Topic:    The Skynet Virus
          Why It Is Unstoppable, How To Stop It

Speaker:  Marc Stiegler
          Hewlett Packard

About the talk:

In Terminator 3, the SkyNet AI distributes itself globally,
becoming invulnerable to destruction, by exploiting the
fundamental failure of computer security. it then destroys the
world when it gains control of America's nuclear missiles. While
this is a considerably more serious disaster than any wrought so
far by cyber-crackers, cyber-terrorists, or cyber-warriors, the
flaws that make SkyNet unstoppable are the same flaws that make
crackers, terrorists, and warriors possible. The same fix that
eliminates crackers can terminate the Terminators.

This presentation starts by examining in detail the fundamental
flaw in computer security today--the ludicrously excessive
authority granted to even silly programs like Barbie Fashion
Designer. We go on to see how the Principle of Least Authority
(also known as the Principle of Least Privilege), once
ubiquitously applied, can end the madness while simultaneously