Expressing and Enforcing Robust Behavior for Electronic Objects

The rapidly changing and expanding electronic environment is fundamentally different from anything mankind has previously experienced. The challenge of information surety is to assure that computation and information behave reasonably and predictably – despite malice, failure and human nature – in this hostile and dynamic environment. Addressing this challenge is urgent for national and economic security, but requires both the ability to express the necessary robustness properties for electronic objects, as well as the ability to develop technology to achieve these properties. This position paper expands on these problems, and presents some solution strategies.