Abstract
In actual network attack and defense, the information between the two sides is often unbalanced and asymmetric, and the defender cannot fully understand the attacker’s true intentions and attack methods. At the same time, the complexity, rapid changes, and limited resources of network attack and defense make it crucial to optimize network defense strategies. The moving target defense strategy is introduced, and the moving target Markov signaling game defense strategy is built to optimize the defense decision. PageRank algorithm is applied to compute the stage weight value in the multi-stage process. The refined Bayesian equilibrium of the model is calculated. From the results, when the security resources were 8, the average defender profit was −0.95, which was 3.11 and 19.15 higher than that of the single-stage Stackelberg and the equitable distribution model, respectively. The average attacker profit was below the other models when the number of security resources was less than 10. Among them, when the number of security resources was 4, the average profit of attackers in the moving target Markov signaling game defense model was only 1.78, which was significantly lower than that of the single-stage Stackelberg model and the equitable distribution model. In addition, the detection/defense success rate proposed by the research is the highest. This proves that the model proposed in the study can effectively enhance the defense ability against network attacks, greatly improve network security defense technology, and provide new reference technologies for network security maintenance.
References
Abdallah M, Naghizadeh P, Hota A R, Cason, T., Bagchi, S., Sundaram, S. Behavioral and game-theoretic security investments in interdependent systems modeled by attack graphs. IEEE Transactions on Control of Network Systems, 2020, 7(4): 1585–1596.
Sengupta S, Chowdhary A, Sabur A, Alshamrani, A., Huang, D., Kambhampati, S. A survey of moving target defenses for network security. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2020, 22(3): 1909–1941.
Tsemogne O, Hayel Y, Kamhoua C, Deugoué, G. Game-theoretic modeling of cyber deception against epidemic botnets in internet of things. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2021, 9(4): 2678–2687.
Li, W. Li, J., Zhang, C., Yao, G., and Xu, X. (2023). A Priori Algorithm Based Network Security Situational Awareness Multi-Source Data Correlation Analysis Method. Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility, 12(06), 869–892. https://doi.org/10.13052/jcsm2245-1439.1263.
Sun Z, Liu Y, Wang J, Li, G., Anil, C., Li, K., Cao, Applications of game theory in vehicular networks: A survey. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2021, 23(4): 2660–2710.
Zhu M, Anwar A H, Wan Z, Cho, J. H., Kamhoua, C. A., Singh, M. P. A survey of defensive deception: Approaches using game theory and machine learning. IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials, 2021, 23(4): 2460–2493.
Zhang, Z. (2023). Analysis of Network Security Countermeasures from the Perspective of Improved FS Algorithm and ICT Convergence. Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility, 12(01), 1–24. https://doi.org/10.13052/jcsm2245-1439.1211.
Zhang Z, Huang S, Chen Y, Li, B., Mei, S. Cyber-physical coordinated risk mitigation in smart grids based on attack-defense game. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2021, 37(1): 530–542.
Shao C W, Li Y F. Optimal defense resources allocation for power system based on bounded rationality game theory analysis. IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, 2021, 36(5): 4223–4234.
Abbasihafshejani M, Manshaei M H, Jadliwala M. Detecting and Punishing Selfish Behavior During Gossiping in Algorand Blockchain. 2023 IEEE Virtual Conference on Communications (VCC). IEEE, 2023: 49–55.
Abolfathi M, Shomorony I, Vahid A, Jafarian, J. H. A game-theoretically optimal defense paradigm against traffic analysis attacks using multipath routing and deception. Proceedings of the 27th ACM on symposium on access control models and technologies. 2022: 67–78.
Abdalzaher M S, Muta O. A game-theoretic approach for enhancing security and data trustworthiness in IoT applications. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2020, 7(11): 11250–11261.
Hu H, Liu Y, Chen C, Zhang, H., Liu, Y. Optimal decision making approach for cyber security defense using evolutionary game. IEEE Transactions on Network and Service Management, 2020, 17(3): 1683–1700.
Aydeger A, Manshaei M H, Rahman M A, Akkaya, K. Strategic defense against stealthy link flooding attacks: A signaling game approach. IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, 2021, 8(1): 751–764.
Liu J, Wang X, Shen S, Fang, Z., Yu, S., Yue, G., and Li, M. Intelligent jamming defense using DNN Stackelberg game in sensor edge cloud. IEEE Internet of Things Journal, 2021, 9(6): 4356–4370.
Zhang B, Dou C, Yue D, Park, J. H., and Zhang, Z. Attack-defense evolutionary game strategy for uploading channel in consensus-based secondary control of islanded microgrid considering DoS attack. IEEE Transactions on Circuits and Systems I: Regular Papers, 2021, 69(2): 821–834.
Falsafain H, Heidarpour M R, Vahidi S. A branch-and-price approach to a variant of the cognitive radio resource allocation problem. Ad Hoc Networks, 2022, 132: 102871.
Fadavi N. Dynamic Price Dispersion of Seasonal Goods in Bertrandâ “Edgeworth Competition”. Applied Economics and Finance, 2024, 11(2): 14–33.
Wang H, Memon F H, Wang X, Li, X., Zhao, N., and Dev, K. Machine learning-enabled MIMO-FBMC communication channel parameter estimation in IIoT: A distributed CS approach. Digital Communications and Networks, 2023, 9(2): 306–312.
Wang H, Xu L, Yan Z, Gulliver, T. A. Low-complexity MIMO-FBMC sparse channel parameter estimation for industrial big data communications. IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, 2020, 17(5): 3422–3430.
He Q, Wang C, Cui G, G., Li, B., Zhou, R., Zhou, Q., Yang, Y. A game-theoretical approach for mitigating edge DDoS attack. IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, 2021, 19(4): 2333–2348.
Yang Y, Wang W, Liu L, Dev, K., Qureshi, N. M. F. AoI optimization in the UAV-aided traffic monitoring network under attack: A stackelberg game viewpoint. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 2022, 24(1): 932–941.
Zheng Y, Li Z, Xu X, Zhao, Q. Dynamic defenses in cyber security: Techniques, methods and challenges. Digital Communications and Networks, 2022, 8(4): 422–435.
Xie Y, Ji L, Li L, S., Guo, Z., Baker, T. An adaptive defense mechanism to prevent advanced persistent threats. Connection Science, 2021, 33(2): 359–379.
Yang L X, Huang K, Yang X, et al. Defense against advanced persistent threat through data backup and recovery. IEEE Transactions on Network Science and Engineering, 2020, 8(3): 2001–2013.
Zhong K, Yang Z, Xiao G, Li, X., Yang, W., Li, K. An efficient parallel reinforcement learning approach to cross-layer defense mechanism in industrial control systems. IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, 2021, 33(11): 2979–2990.
Gheisari M, Hamidpour H, Liu Y, Saedi, P., Raza, A., Jalili, A., Amin, R. Data Mining Techniques for Web Mining: A Survey. Artificial Intelligence and Applications. 2023, 1(1): 3–10.
Wang H, Li X, Jhaveri R H, Gadekallu, T. R., Zhu, M., Ahanger, T. A., and Khowaja, S. A. Sparse Bayesian learning based channel estimation in FBMC/OQAM industrial IoT networks. Computer Communications, 2021, 176: 40–45.
Rahiminasab A, Tirandazi P, Ebadi M J, Ahmadian, A., and Salimi, M. An energy-aware method for selecting cluster heads in wireless sensor networks. Applied Sciences, 2020, 10(21): 7886.
Larijani A, Dehghani F. An Efficient Optimization Approach for Designing Machine Models Based on Combined Algorithm. FinTech, 2023, 3(1): 40–54.
Odumuyiwa, V., and Alabi, R. (2021). DDOS Detection on Internet of Things Using Unsupervised Algorithms. Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility, 10(3), 569–592. https://doi.org/10.13052/jcsm2245-1439.1034.
Di Wang, Yuefei Zhu, Jinlong Fei, Maohua Guo. CMAES-WFD: Adversarial Website Fingerprinting Defense Based on Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy. Computers, Materials & Continua, 2024, 79(5): 2253–2276.
Zhang C, Costa-Perez X, Patras P. Adversarial attacks against deep learning-based network intrusion detection systems and defense mechanisms. IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, 2022, 30(3): 1294–1311.
Seo S, Moon H, Lee S, Kim, D., Lee, J., Kim, B., Kim, D. D3GF: A study on optimal defense performance evaluation of drone-type moving target defense through game theory. IEEE Access, 2023.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2025 Journal of Cyber Security and Mobility
