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Assessment of Group Dynamics During Cyber Crime Through Temporal Network Topology

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Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling (SBP-BRiMS 2018)

Abstract

Understanding group dynamics can provide valuable insight into how the adversaries progress through cyberattacks and adapt to any disruptions they encounter. However, capturing the characteristics of such dynamics is a difficult task due to complexities in the formation and focus of the adversarial team throughout the attack. In this study, we propose an approach based on concepts and measures of social network theory. The results of experiments performed on observations at the US Industrial Control Systems Computer Emergency Response Team’s (ICS-CERT) Red Team-Blue Team cybersecurity training exercise held at Idaho National Laboratory (INL) show that the team dynamics can be captured and characterized using the proposed approach. Moreover, we provide an analysis of the shifts in such dynamics due to the adversarial team’s adaptation to disruptions caused by the defenders.

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Acknowledgements

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation CAREER Award, Grant No. CNS1453040 and partially by National Science Foundation CPS Award, Grant No. 1446574. The authors thank the Industrial Control Systems Computer Emergency Response Team (ICSCERT) and Idaho National Laboratory (INL) for allowing data collection at their September/October 2014 Red Team/Blue Team Cybersecurity Training Exercise.

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Correspondence to Nima Asadi .

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Asadi, N., Rege, A., Obradovic, Z. (2018). Assessment of Group Dynamics During Cyber Crime Through Temporal Network Topology. In: Thomson, R., Dancy, C., Hyder, A., Bisgin, H. (eds) Social, Cultural, and Behavioral Modeling. SBP-BRiMS 2018. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 10899. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93372-6_44

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-93372-6_44

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-93371-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-93372-6

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