As cyber becomes the new battlefield for the lowest levels of criminal activity, much of our cyber defense posture as a community is built on Anti-Virus (AV) signatures (and other alert based systems), and policy. What do we know about the people/entities we are protecting ourselves against? In this game of cyber chess, how do we know what move to make next? There is a mathematical model of study that is growing in popularity in the Computer Science community called Game Theory. Algorithmic Game Theory could help advance algorithmic systems to identify malicious activity BEFORE it affects a network (being proactive vs reactive) by using strategic decisions based on the interactions of rational decision makers. But what about negligence in following policy as a kind of insider threat? Price of Anarchy (PoA) is a subset of Game Theory that analyzes and attempts to measure how much a system can be degraded by selfish behaviors.
This talk is for everyone looking to crack the egg of cyber defense and stop the Whack-A-Intrusion game and asks how we can use Game Theory to create proactive solutions in the technical and psychological realm of cybersecurity. We will discuss what Game Theory is, how it is being used today in Cybersecurity, and then attempt to apply a non-cyber principle (PoA) to further calculate if the changes we are making in cyber defense is actually helping us become more secure (or if it is just lip service). This talk will NOT tell you the best AV to use. The purpose is to show you a different way of thinking about defense decision making, down to the employee/policy level.