Security Evaluation of the Cyber Networks under Advanced Persistent Threats

Journal Article (2017)
Author(s)

Lu Xing Yang (TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science)

Pengdeng Li (Chongqing University)

Xiaofan Yang (Chongqing University)

Yuan Yan Tang (University of Macau)

Research Group
Network Architectures and Services
DOI related publication
https://doi.org/10.1109/ACCESS.2017.2757944 Final published version
More Info
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Publication Year
2017
Language
English
Research Group
Network Architectures and Services
Journal title
IEEE Access
Volume number
5
Article number
8053761
Pages (from-to)
20111-20123
Downloads counter
349
Collections
Institutional Repository
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Abstract

Advanced persistent threats (APTs) pose a grave threat to cyberspace, because they deactivate all the conventional cyber defense mechanisms. This paper addresses the issue of evaluating the security of the cyber networks under APTs. For this purpose, a dynamic model capturing the APT-based cyber-attack-defense processes is proposed. Theoretical analysis shows that this model admits a globally stable equilibrium. On this basis, a new security metric known as the equilibrium security is suggested. The impact of several factors on the equilibrium security is revealed through theoretical analysis or computer simulation. These findings contribute to the development of feasible security solutions against APTs.