We initiate the analysis of the response of computer owners to various offers of defence systems against a cyber-hacker (for instance, a botnet attack), as a stochastic game of a large number of interacting agents. We introduce a simple mean-field game that models their behavior. It takes into account both the random process of the propagation of the infection (controlled by the botner herder) and the decision making process of customers. Its stationary version turns out to be exactly solvable (but not at all trivial) under an additional natural assumption that the execution time of the decisions of the customers (say, switch on or out the defence system) is much faster that the infection rates.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)669-692
Number of pages24
JournalApplied Mathematics and Optimization
Volume74
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Dec 2016

    Scopus subject areas

  • Control and Optimization
  • Applied Mathematics

    Research areas

  • Botnet defence, Mean-field game, Phase transitions, Stable equilibrium

ID: 51531096