03-10-2012, 03:32 PM
SEMINAR ON MOBILE AGENTS
MOBILE.ppt (Size: 166 KB / Downloads: 27)
Definition of Software Agents
Computer program
Autonomous behavior
Represents some entity
Has authority (delegation)
Reacts and learns about environment
Communicates using high-level Agent Communication Languages (ACLs)
What Are Agents
Agents are autonomous programs (piece of code) situated within an environment.
Identify the information
Task data
Mobile Code
Allows executable code to be moved to a new host
May use the push or pull model
Pull: Applets
Push: Remote Installation
Mobile agents use push
Sometimes, an agent push may result in a code pull
Code may be binary (intermediate or native) or source
Advantages:
Dynamically change capabilities
Download new code to add / change / update capabilities of platform
Remove code when no longer needed
Problems:
Security concerns due to untrusted / unchecked code
Code could be malicious, buggy, and/or tampered
Applications of Mobile Agents
E-Commerce:-
Service brokering
Stock trading
Network Management:-
Software distribution
Remote network management
PDA (personal digital assistants)
Applications of Mobile Agents
Monitoring
Computer programs can be very patient
Remote Control
Dynamic Systems
Universal servers
Active Mail
Send executable content as email
Challenges for Mobile Agents
Security Issues
Protecting network communication
Protecting hosts from agents
Illegal access
Denial of service
Protecting agents from hosts
Tampering
Extracting information
Capture / Replay
System-wide Administration / Management
Policies
Tracking / Visualization
Conclusion
Mobile agents are useful programming
paradigm
Its utility is limited if security threats are not mitigated
Problem of malicious host-difficult to detect