Biomimicry prevents data theft and cybercrime – new innovations increase security.

Now biomimicry is catching on in the cybersecurity field, as engineers seek to protect data and thwart cybercrime using defense mechanisms found in nature.

Bornean moths, for instance, protect themselves from birds by creating leaf tents. Using a similar principle, “data masking” shields sensitive personal information from unauthorized viewers by replacing it with phony data.

The chameleon protects itself from predators by changing colors to blend in with its surroundings, rendering itself nearly invisible. In cybersecurity, steganography disguises sensitive data to make it look like something else: a picture of a flower, perhaps, or a .

Ants and bees work collaboratively to accomplish such tasks as hive or nest building, defense, and repair. Cybersecurity researchers apply “swarm intelligence” in various ways. In one project, “” constantly monitor systems for anomalies such as malware, and drop “markers” where unusual activity occurs, similar to the pheromonal markers ants place along paths to food. When enough markers appear at a location, an alarm is triggered.

The body’s immune system is a popular source of inspiration for cybersecurity design: immunity-based systems are always on; alert to anything out of the ordinary; able to quickly rush in to attack and repair; and adaptive, “remembering” the intruder for increasingly efficient and effective defenses. Some data security systems operate similarly, knowing the “baseline” for normal behaviors such as the keystroke speeds and patterns of specific users in order to detect “insider”

What other functions might cybersecurity designers borrow from nature?

Capsids, the strong, stable containers housing viral DNA, assemble themselves automatically. Could we design digital security that does the same, with multiple organizations on a network all responding automatically and in sync to defend against an attack?

After leaving their chicks to find food, returning penguins can identify their offspring even in a crowd. How might we program our security systems to identify which users don’t belong, such as “advanced persistent threat” data thieves hiding in our networks?

Salmon hurl themselves upstream to spawn in the place where they were hatched. They then die, their life’s work completed. What if data, after serving its purpose, “expired” and disappeared, no longer vulnerable to theft?

It seems paradoxical, this borrowing from the natural world to safeguard a virtual one. But humans have engaged in biomimicry for eons, starting, perhaps, with wearing animal hides for warmth. Now, as then, we may find some of the best solutions to our problems in our own backyards—on nature’s path.