In an imperfect world, the prospect of having a computer, or any bus-based system, that can defend itself from cyber-attacks and recover from one is not just a pipe dream.
DARPA experts say this capability can become a reality by addressing missing forensic data on the bus – a communication system that transfers data between components – and leveraging advancements in Zero Trust.
Many critical systems (e.g., Defense Department vehicles with engine control and power steering modules and personal computers with memory controllers, graphic processing units, disk controllers, etc.) are bus-based systems of systems with implicitly trusted modular components. Simply detecting and alerting of a cyber-attack – as most antivirus software works today – does not sufficiently protect the computer system.