VN-GT: Optimizing Virtual Network Deployment via Game Theory

Abstract

The static and homogeneous nature of traditional networks presents a significant challenge for our defense efforts. These characteristics enable an experienced attacker to quickly determine our network topology and gather detailed information about the internal hosts through systematic scanning techniques. Implementing a virtual network view can mitigate this by simulating a virtual topology, thereby consuming the attacker’s resources and time. However, deploying a virtual network view reduces network throughput and increase latency. Additionally, an improperly configured virtual network view can waste resources and degrade Quality of Service (QoS). Most existing studies have focused solely on the defender’s perspective, resulting in overly idealistic solutions that are ineffective in real-world scenarios. To address this, we propose VN-GT, a game-theoretic based model that optimizes virtual network deployment by considering both attackers and defenders. We provide a detailed example scenario, analyze the game’s equilibrium, and validate the effectiveness of our method through a real attack and defense experiment.