A Game Theoretic Method for Decision and Analysis of the Optimal Active Defense Strategy

This paper presents a game-theoretic method for analyzing the active defense of computer networks. We regard the interactions between an attacker and the defender as a two-player, non-cooperative, zero-sum, finite game and formulate an attack-defense game (ADG) model for the game. An optimal active defense strategy decision (OADSD) algorithm is developed using the ADG and cost-sensitive model. Optimal defense strategies with minimizing costs are used to defend the attack and harden the network in advance. Finally, experiments show that our ADG model and the OADSD algorithm are effective in reducing the overall cost of defense systems and defend attacks that may occur in the future.