Honeypot Allocation Games over Attack Graphs for Cyber Deception

In this chapter, we introduce a cyber deception defense approach and propose a scalable allocation algorithm to place honeypots over an attack graph. We formulate a two‐person zero‐sum strategic game between the network defender and an attacker. The developed game model captures the network topology and its characteristics. The game also counts for the cost associated with the defense action and the attack cost. Nash equilibrium defense strategies are analytically characterized and studied for a special game. The complexity of the general game is discussed and a scalable algorithm is proposed to overcome the game complexity. This chapter extends the model to a dynamic game formulation to better understand game evolution with players' actions. Finally, numerical results are presented to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed cyber deception approach.