Applying a Bayesian Stackelberg game to secure infrastructure system: from a complex network perspective

Abstract

Protecting critical infrastructure is a challenging task for security agencies all around the world, which is exacerbated by terrorism. Many infrastructures have network characteristics, such as transportation and communication systems. Therefore, it is necessary to study them from the perspective of network science. Game theory provides a suitable theoretical tool for the study of attack-defense confrontation between rational agents. Sequential game, which is more in line with the actual situation, can better analyze the confrontation in infrastructure protection. Previous models which combine network science with game theory only consider the attacker as a single type. However, in the real world, accurate information about the type of the attacker is not always available for the defender. In this paper, we apply Bayesian Stackelberg game to model the attack-defense confrontation in the case of uncertain attacker type.