This survey provides a structured and comprehensive overview of research on security and privacy in computer and communication networks that uses game-theoretic approaches. We present a selected set of works to highlight the application of game theory in addressing different forms of security and privacy problems in computer networks and mobile applications. We organize the presented works in six main categories: security of the physical and MAC layers, security of self-organizing networks, intrusion detection systems, anonymity and privacy, economics of network security, and cryptography. In each category, we identify security problems, players, and game models. We summarize the main results of selected works, such as equilibrium analysis and security mechanism designs. In addition, we provide a discussion on advantages, drawbacks, and the future direction of using game theory in this field. In this survey, our goal is to instill in the reader an enhanced understanding of different research approaches in applying game-theoretic methods to network security. This survey can also help researchers from various fields develop game-theoretic solutions to current and emerging security problems in computer networking.

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We investigate the basic trade-offs, analysis and decision processes involved in information security and intrusion detection, as well as possible application of game theoretic concepts to develop a formal decision and control framework. A generic model of a distributed IDS with a network of sensors is considered, and two schemes based on game theoretic techniques are proposed. The security warning system is simple, easy-to-implement, and gives system administrators an intuitive overview of the security situation in the network. The security attack game, on the other hand, models and analyzes attacker and IDS behavior within a two-person, nonzero-sum, noncooperative game with dynamic information. Nash equilibrium solutions in closed form are obtained for specific subgames, and two illustrative examples are provided.

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