In this paper, we introduce the use of program evolution as a technique for defending against automated attacks on operating systems. From the beginning of electronic computing until 15 years ago, the `game' of attack and defense was played on a system by system basis, with defenders relying on physical security and ad-hoc operating system protection methods and attackers guessing passwords or exploiting errors and omissions to bypass normal system controls. Over the last 15 years, the computing environment has changed dramatically, with widespread physical distribution of computing power, almost complete loss of physical control over computing hardware, and a dramatic increase in the networking of computers, but defenses have not changed substantially in terms of their reliance on physical security and ad-hoc defenses. As a result, we see new classes of attacks such as computer viruses, which exploit the lack of physical control and fundamental weakness of existing logical controls to spread transitively throughout the computing world. Even the best protection systems available today can quickly and easily be defeated by anyone with physical access and ample knowledge, or by the application of that expertise in a widespread computer virus attack. One of the major factors in the successful application of information protection techniques is the exploitation of computational advantage.
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