Analysis of strategic security through game theory for mobile social networks

In mobile social networks, legitimate transmitting nodes can be contrasted by malicious attackers acting on the purpose of disrupting communication. Our aim is to use game theory to identify malicious nodes. With respect to previous similar formulations, we consider a wider array of action options for the players, notably we include a choice about whether to engage or not in packet exchanging, and also malicious activity and its prevention. This leads to a structured analysis of the resulting game, resulting in different equilibria. We use a Bayesian Game where the critical parameter is the likelihood that the unknown agent is malicious. Investigating on the Nash equilibria in pure/mixed strategies found, we can see how in some cases the malicious behavior of the nodes can be tolerated since a trade-off between their presence and the effect of damages that they caused can be reached.