A Game-Theoretic Analysis of Security Investment for Service Computing Applications

In service computing, a system can be built by integrating the services from different service providers. The security of such system is closely linked to the security of the services that make up the system. This paper studied the security investment of some service computing applications using a game theoretical approach. It proposed two security games for modeling two classes of service computing applications. Using the games, the service providers and their customers can analyse the security level and the security investment of a system. The results of the analysis should allow the customers and the service providers be more objective in their service level agreement negotiation, and make it easier for them to reach an agreement.