Abstract: When we work harder, our hearts beat faster. When we are hot, we sweat. The internal functions within our body regulate themselves. Correspondingly, would not we like to have systems that can heal themselves? Autonomous Computing is a holistic, system-wide perspective. The ultimate goal is to have the machine think for itself without human input, to be able to boot up backup systems, and even to order spare parts to ensure transparency to the user. Successful autonomic systems will need to be self-configuring, self-optimizing, self-protecting, and self-healing. So rather than having to tell systems what to do explicitly in a certain situation, we just tell these systems what we are trying to accomplish. While that ultimate goal is still years away, the first generation of self-adapting software tools is within reach. Autonomic computing will not reinvent computer science but will offer new opportunities—new ways of securing our systems against attack.