Survivability in Cyberspace Using Diverse Replicas: A Game-Theoretic Approach

ABSTRACT

Survivability represents the quantified ability of a system, subsystem, equipment, process or procedure to function continually during and after a disturbance. Almost invariably, replication of a subsystem or procedure is necessary to meet a system’s survivability requirements. Diversity will prevent the same fault or attack from damaging all the replicas so that they can continue the mission. This research shows that the more dangerous vulnerabilities (that is, those that affect more replicas) in a system are sometimes less likely to be exploited. This work uses the mathematical framework of game theory to show the significance of replica diversity for mission survival in cyberspace.


AUTHORS

Cyber Assurance Branch, Air Force Research Laboratory,Information Directorate, Rome, New York

Dr. Charles A. Kamhoua received his B.S. in electronics from the University of Douala/ENSET, Cameroon in 1999. He received his M.S. in telecommunication and networking and his Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Florida International University in 2008 and 2011, respectively. He is currently a Research Electronics Engineer in the Cyber Assurance Branch of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome, New York. His interdisciplinary research area includes game theory, cyber-security, survivability, fault tolerant networks, and ad hoc networks. Dr. Kamhoua is a member of the National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE). He is the March 2011 recipient of the National Academies Postdoctoral Fellowship Award at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York.

Cyber Assurance Branch, Air Force Research Laboratory,Information Directorate, Rome, New York

Dr. Kevin A. Kwiat is a Principal Computer Engineer in the Cyber Assurance Branch of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) in Rome, New York, where he has worked for over 30 years. He received a Ph.D. in computer engineering from Syracuse University. Dr. Kwiat holds four patents and has published more than a hundred journal and conference papers. In addition to his duties with the Air Force, he is an adjunct professor of computer science at the State University of New York at Utica/Rome, an adjunct instructor of computer engineering at Syracuse University, and a research associate professor with the University at Buffalo.

School of Information Studies (iSchool), Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York

Dr. Park is an associate professor at the School of Information Studies (iSchool), Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York. He completed his doctorate in the area of information security at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia. Currently, he is the director of the Certificate of Advanced Study (CAS) in Information Security Management (ISM) at the iSchool. Over the past decades, Professor Park has been involved with theoretical/practical research and education in information and systems security. He is Syracuse University’s Point of Contact (POC) at the Center of Academic Excellence (CAE) in Information Assurance (IA), which is designated by the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at the university. During his extended sabbatical (Fall 2011 - Summer 2013), his research has been sponsored by the U.S. National Research Council (NRC), National Academies, as an NRC Fellow.

Cyber Assurance Branch, Air Force Research Laboratory, Information Directorate, Rome, New York

Mr. Patrick Hurley is a senior computer engineer at Air Force Research Laboratory in Rome, New York. He received a bachelor of science degree in Computer Science from SUNY Oswego and a master of science degree in Computer Information Science from SUNY College of Technology. Over the past sixteen years, Mr. Hurley has worked closely with DARPA on various aspects of cyber defence, especially focusing on survivability architectures, adaptive security, and advanced distributed systems technologies that lead to more agile and better managed systems. Mr. Hurley is currently the lead on two AFRL capability concepts focused on fighting through cyber-attacks while maintaining mission essential function. He is a member of the IEEE and has over twenty technical publications.

Electrical Engineering and Computer Science Department
University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

Dr. Mainak Chatterjee received B.Sc. degree (Hons.) in physics from the University of Calcutta, Kolkata, India, in 1994, the M.E. degree in electrical communication engineering from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, in 1998, and the Ph.D. degree in computer science and engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington in 2002. He is currently an associate professor with the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Central Florida, Orlando. His research interests include economic issues in wireless networks, applied game theory, subjective quality-of-service, spectrum management and cognitive radio networks. He serves on the executive and technical program committees of several international conferences.

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Keywords

A

AI
APT

C

C2
C2S
CDX
CIA
CIP
CPS

D

DNS
DoD
DoS

I

IA
ICS

M

S

SOA

X

XRY

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