A coalitional game theory approach for cybersecurity information sharing

As the complexity and number of cybersecurity incidents are growing, the traditional security measures are not sufficient to defend against attackers. In this situation, cyber threat intelligence capability substantially improves the detection and prevention of the sophisticated attacks. Cybersecurity information sharing is a key factor of threat intelligence, allowing organizations to detect and prevent malicious behaviors proactively. However, stimulating organizations to participate and deterring free-riding in such sharing is a big challenge. To this end, the sharing system should be equipped with a rewarding and participation-fee allocation mechanisms to encourage sharing behavior. In this paper, we investigate a rewarding and participation-fee calculation based on profit sharing in coalitional game theory. In particular, we formulate a coalitional game between organizations and analyze the well-known Shapley value and Nucleolus solution concepts in cybersecurity information sharing system.