Parasitic computing.
Reliable communication on the Internet is guaranteed by a standard set of protocols, used by all computers. Here we show that these protocols can be exploited to compute with the communication infrastructure, transforming the Internet into a distributed computer in which servers unwittingly perform computation on behalf of a remote node. In this model, which we call 'parasitic computing', one machine forces target computers to solve a piece of a complex computational problem merely by engaging them in standard communication. Consequently, the target computers are unaware that they have performed computation for the benefit of a commanding node. As experimental evidence of the principle of parasitic computing, we harness the power of several web servers across the globe, which-unknown to them-work together to solve an NP complete problem.
Barabási
A L
AL
Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA. alb@nd.edu
Freeh
V W
VW
Jeong
H
H
Brockman
J B
JB