Securing the Internet of Things with Responsive Artificial Immune Systems

The Internet of Things is a network of `smart' objects, transforming everyday objects into entities which can measure, sense and understand their environment. The devices are uniquely identifiable, rely on near field connectivity, often in embedded devices. The Internet of Things is designed to be deployed without human intervention or interaction. One application is the `smart house', with components including household appliances, networked with the user able to control devices remotely. However, the security inherent in these systems is added as somewhat of an afterthought. One hypothetical scenario is where a malicious party could exploit this technology with potentially disastrous consequences, turning on a cooker remotely leading to digital arson. Reliance on standard methods is insufficient to provide the user with adequate levels of security, an area where AIS may be extremely useful. There are currently limitations with AIS applied in security, focussing on detection without providing automatic responses. This problem provides an opportunity to advance AIS in providing both an ideal scenario for testing their real-world application and to develop novel responsive AIS. A responsive version of the deterministic Dendritic Cell Algorithm will be proposed to demonstrate how responsive AIS will need to be developed to meet these future challenges through proposing the incorporation of a model of T-cell responses.