A Failure-Based Discipline of Trustworthy Information Systems

Complex system failures is an everyday risk and occurrence, avoided only by dumb luck or the most cautious and restrained planning. The sheer complexity of most systems, including those involving or controlled by a digital information system, has far surpassed the point at which we can consider failures-particularly maliciously induced failures- as abnormal events. This reality calls to investigate the nature of failure patterns. Designing protection mechanisms for information systems' successful operation has reached the point of diminishing returns. Perhaps the best thing is to study and characterize the behavior of failure states.