Modeling cyber conflicts using an extended Petri Net formalism

Abstract

When threatened by automated attacks, critical systems that require human-controlled responses have difficulty making optimal responses and adapting protections in real-time and may therefore be overwhelmed. Consequently, experts have called for the development of automatic real-time reaction capabilities. However, a technical gap exists in the modeling and analysis of cyber conflicts to automatically understand the repercussions of responses. There is a need for modeling cyber assets that accounts for concurrent behavior, incomplete information, and payoff functions.