CROOKS who tamper with databases can wreak havoc with Internet banking, credit card accounts or utility billing. But by the time an initial breach has been spotted money may already have been debited from an account. To combat this, computer expert Peng Liu at Pennsylvania State University is developing an early-warning system that detects such activity and then neutralises it.
His “self-healing database” quarantines potential hackers by diverting them to a useless copy of the database where they can do no harm. In the meantime, his prototype software lets innocent operations proceed unhindered, while any damage to the main database from the attack is instantly repaired.…
