Monoculture (computer science)
Encyclopedia
In the field of computer science
, monoculture is a term used to describe a community of computers, all running identical software. All the computer systems in the community have the same vulnerabilities, and, like agricultural monoculture
s, are subject to catastrophic failure in the event of a successful attack.
This concept is significant when discussing computer security
and viruses
. In particular, Dan Geer
has argued that Microsoft
is a monoculture, since a majority of the overall number of computers connected to the Internet are workstations and servers running versions of the Microsoft Windows
operating system
, many of which are vulnerable to the same attacks.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, monoculture is a term used to describe a community of computers, all running identical software. All the computer systems in the community have the same vulnerabilities, and, like agricultural monoculture
Monoculture
Monoculture is the agricultural practice of producing or growing one single crop over a wide area. It is also known as a way of farming practice of growing large stands of a single species. It is widely used in modern industrial agriculture and its implementation has allowed for large harvests from...
s, are subject to catastrophic failure in the event of a successful attack.
This concept is significant when discussing computer security
Computer security
Computer security is a branch of computer technology known as information security as applied to computers and networks. The objective of computer security includes protection of information and property from theft, corruption, or natural disaster, while allowing the information and property to...
and viruses
Computer virus
A computer virus is a computer program that can replicate itself and spread from one computer to another. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability...
. In particular, Dan Geer
Dan Geer
Dan Geer is a computer security analyst and risk management specialist. He is recognized for raising awareness of critical computer and network security issues before the risks were widely understood, and for ground-breaking work on the economics of security....
has argued that Microsoft
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
is a monoculture, since a majority of the overall number of computers connected to the Internet are workstations and servers running versions of the Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
, many of which are vulnerable to the same attacks.