Robust solutions for multi-defender Stackelberg security games

D Mutzari, Y Aumann, S Kraus - arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.14000, 2022 - arxiv.org
arXiv preprint arXiv:2204.14000, 2022arxiv.org
Multi-defender Stackelberg Security Games (MSSG) have recently gained increasing
attention in the literature. However, the solutions offered to date are highly sensitive, wherein
even small perturbations in the attacker's utility or slight uncertainties thereof can
dramatically change the defenders' resulting payoffs and alter the equilibrium. In this paper,
we introduce a robust model for MSSGs, which admits solutions that are resistant to small
perturbations or uncertainties in the game's parameters. First, we formally define the notion …
Multi-defender Stackelberg Security Games (MSSG) have recently gained increasing attention in the literature. However, the solutions offered to date are highly sensitive, wherein even small perturbations in the attacker's utility or slight uncertainties thereof can dramatically change the defenders' resulting payoffs and alter the equilibrium. In this paper, we introduce a robust model for MSSGs, which admits solutions that are resistant to small perturbations or uncertainties in the game's parameters. First, we formally define the notion of robustness, as well as the robust MSSG model. Then, for the non-cooperative setting, we prove the existence of a robust approximate equilibrium in any such game, and provide an efficient construction thereof. For the cooperative setting, we show that any such game admits a robust approximate alpha-core, provide an efficient construction thereof, and prove that stronger types of the core may be empty. Interestingly, the robust solutions can substantially increase the defenders' utilities over those of the non-robust ones.
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