A Game Theoretical Method for Cost-Benefit Analysis of Malware Dissemination Prevention

Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. Literature in malware proliferation focuses on modeling and analyzing its spread dynamics. Epidemiology models, which are inspired by the characteristics of biological disease spread in human populations, have been used against this threat to analyze the way malware spreads in a network. This work presents a modified version of the commonly used epidemiology models Susceptible Infected Recovered (SIR) and Susceptible Infected Susceptible (SIS), which incorporates the ability to capture the relationships between nodes within a network, along with their effect on malware dissemination process. Drawing upon a model that illustrates the network’s behavior based on the attacker’s and the defender’s choices, we use game theory to compute optimal strategies for the defender to minimize the effect of malware spread, at the same time minimizing the security cost. We consider three defense mechanisms: patch, removal, and patch and removal, which correspond to the defender’s strategy and use probabilistically with a certain rate. The attacker chooses the type of attack according to its effectiveness and cost. Through the interaction between the two opponents we infer the optimal strategy for both players, known as Nash Equilibrium, evaluating the related payoffs. Hence, our model provides a cost-benefit risk management framework for managing malware spread in computer networks

Spreading processes in Multilayer Networks

Several systems can be modeled as sets of interconnected networks or networks with multiple types of connections, here generally called multilayer networks. Spreading processes such as information propagation among users of an online social networks, or the diffusion of pathogens among individuals through their contact network, are fundamental phenomena occurring in these networks. However, while information diffusion in single networks has received considerable attention from various disciplines for over a decade, spreading processes in multilayer networks is still a young research area presenting many challenging research issues. In this paper we review the main models, results and applications of multilayer spreading processes and discuss some promising research directions.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures, 4 table

Reliability Evaluation for Clustered WSNs under Malware Propagation.

We consider a clustered wireless sensor network (WSN) under epidemic-malware propagation conditions and solve the problem of how to evaluate its reliability so as to ensure efficient, continuous, and dependable transmission of sensed data from sensor nodes to the sink. Facing the contradiction between malware intention and continuous-time Markov chain (CTMC) randomness, we introduce a strategic game that can predict malware infection in order to model a successful infection as a CTMC state transition. Next, we devise a novel measure to compute the Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) of a sensor node, which represents the reliability of a sensor node continuously performing tasks such as sensing, transmitting, and fusing data. Since clustered WSNs can be regarded as parallel-serial-parallel systems, the reliability of a clustered WSN can be evaluated via classical reliability theory. Numerical results show the influence of parameters such as the true positive rate and the false positive rate on a sensor node's MTTF. Furthermore, we validate the method of reliability evaluation for a clustered WSN according to the number of sensor nodes in a cluster, the number of clusters in a route, and the number of routes in the WSN

The future of Cybersecurity in Italy: Strategic focus area

This volume has been created as a continuation of the previous one, with the aim of outlining a set of focus areas and actions that the Italian Nation research community considers essential. The book touches many aspects of cyber security, ranging from the definition of the infrastructure and controls needed to organize cyberdefence to the actions and technologies to be developed to be better protected, from the identification of the main technologies to be defended to the proposal of a set of horizontal actions for training, awareness raising, and risk management

Gamificação aplicada à formação em cibersegurança de profissionais de saúde: uma prova de conceito

Mestrado em Gestão e Avaliação de Tecnologias em SaúdeIntrodução: O sector da saúde é fortemente afetado pelo cibercrime, com as principais técnicas de ataque a serem direcionadas para os utilizadores. Por isso, os profissionais de saúde têm um papel fundamental na minimização destes ataques, quando devidamente treinados. As estratégias de formação gamificada em cibersegurança têm resultados bastante positivos ao nível da aquisição e retenção de conhecimento, tendo vantagens ao nível da gestão dos recursos e do tempo. Objetivos: Descrever o estado da arte relacionado com o impacto da cibersegurança no sector da saúde e com a gamificação; identificar os componentes associados ao desenvolvimento de soluções de gamificação; comparar as plataformas de gamificação existentes; definir uma metodologia de gamificação adequada para a formação em cibersegurança de profissionais de saúde e desenvolver uma ferramenta de gamificação para a sensibilização em cibersegurança de profissionais de saúde. Metodologia: Desenvolveu-se uma metodologia de gamificação para a formação em cibersegurança dos profissionais de saúde. Foi igualmente desenvolvido um protótipo da estratégia de formação gamificada, específica para o setor da saúde, onde consta um piloto da aplicação (Health-Cy-Game). Resultados: Desenvolvimento do protótipo da estratégia de formação gamificada – Health-Cy-Game – de acordo com o perfil de conhecimentos estabelecido: conhecimento geral de tecnologia; autenticação e gestão de palavras-passe; técnicas de ciberataques dirigidas ao sector da saúde; gestão da informação; manutenção e atualização de software, e procedimentos e regulamentos em cibersegurança das instituições de saúde. Disposições finais: No setor da saúde, a cibersegurança deverá constituir uma preocupação central dos planos estratégicos de segurança e qualidade dos cuidados. Para atingir este estado de segurança, é preciso munir os utilizadores da tecnologia de conhecimento adequados. “Health-Cy-Game” foi construído tendo em conta o perfil de competências destes profissionais e as especificidades deste sector, de acordo com o Referencial de Competências e Conhecimentos do Centro Nacional de Cibersegurança e as escalas Risky Cybersecurity Behaviours Scale (RsCB) e Security Behaviour Intentions Scale (SeBIS).ABSTRACT - Introduction: The healthcare sector is heavily affected by cybercrime, with the majority of techniques used being addressed to its users. Health professionals have a key role in minimizing these attacks when properly trained. Gamified training strategies in cybersecurity have very positive results in terms of knowledge acquisition and retention, with advantages in terms of resources and time management. Objectives: To describe the state-of-the-art related to the impact of cybersecurity in the health sector and with gamification; identify the components associated with the development of gamification solutions; compare existing gamification platforms; define an appropriate gamification methodology for training health professionals in cybersecurity and develop a gamification tool to raise awareness of cybersecurity among health professionals. Methodology: A gamification methodology was developed for training health professionals in cybersecurity. A prototype of the gamified training strategy, specific for the health sector, was also developed, which contains a pilot application (Health-Cy-Game). Results: Development of the prototype of the gamified training strategy – Health-Cy-Game – according to the knowledge profile established: general knowledge of technology; authentication and password management; cyberattack techniques targeting the health sector; information management; maintenance and updating of software, and procedures and regulations in cybersecurity of health institutions. Final Provisions: In the healthcare sector, cybersecurity must be a central concern of strategic plans addressed to safety and quality of care. To achieve this state of security, it is necessary to provide adequate training to healthcare professionals. “Health-Cy-Game” was built taking into account the skills profile of these professionals and the specificities of this sector, in accordance with Centro Nacional de Cibersegurança’s roadmap “Competências e Conhecimentos”, the Risky Cybersecurity Behaviours Scale (RsCB) and Security Behaviour Intentions Scale (SeBIS).N/

Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Cybersecurity: Applications, Challenges, and Opportunities for MIS Academics

The availability of massive amounts of data, fast computers, and superior machine learning (ML) algorithms has spurred interest in artificial intelligence (AI). It is no surprise, then, that we observe an increase in the application of AI in cybersecurity. Our survey of AI applications in cybersecurity shows most of the present applications are in the areas of malware identification and classification, intrusion detection, and cybercrime prevention. We should, however, be aware that AI-enabled cybersecurity is not without its drawbacks. Challenges to AI solutions include a shortage of good quality data to train machine learning models, the potential for exploits via adversarial AI/ML, and limited human expertise in AI. However, the rewards in terms of increased accuracy of cyberattack predictions, faster response to cyberattacks, and improved cybersecurity make it worthwhile to overcome these challenges. We present a summary of the current research on the application of AI and ML to improve cybersecurity, challenges that need to be overcome, and research opportunities for academics in management information systems