Authors:
Yahel Giat
and
Irit Nowik
Affiliation:
Department of Industrial Engineering, Jerusalem College of Technology, Havaad Haleumi 21, Jerusalem, Israel
Keyword(s):
Sequential, Parallel, Pooling, Cyber, Optimization.
Abstract:
In various fields such as medicine, management, cyber operations, and military strategy, the choice between sequential and parallel strategies is pivotal in achieving objectives, be it maximizing the likelihood of success or minimizing the time to victory. This study considers a hacker who attempts to destroy a rival system using multiple attacking tools. It is assumed that the success probability of each attack tool to destroy the system is equal and independent of the other tools. Execution of an attack is time consuming and it is assumed that this attack time increases exponentially with the number of tools used simultaneously. We consider different attaching schemes that vary in their design and balance between parallel and sequential steps. Our findings indicate that when the attack time for a multi-tool attack is extremely short, the optimal solution will be a purely simultaneous attack. Conversely, if the attack time approaches the total time required for a sequential attack,
then the optimal solution will be a purely sequential approach. In between these extremes, we discover that a mixed strategy is optimal. Interestingly, our numerical analysis reveals that in these mixed cases, it is consistently more advantageous to initiate a simultaneous attack and then complement it with a sequential one. Moreover, we demonstrate that as the probability of success increases, the optimum tends towards a sequential attack.
(More)