Building Collaborative Cybersecurity for Critical Infrastructure Protection: Empirical Evidence of Collective Intelligence Information Sharing Dynamics on ThreatFox

Abstract

AbstractThis article describes three collective intelligence dynamics observed on ThreatFox, a free platform operated by abuse.ch that collects and shares indicators of compromise. These three dynamics are empirically analyzed with an exclusive dataset provided by the sharing platform. First, participants’ onboarding dynamics are investigated and the importance of building collaborative cybersecurity on an established network of trust is highlighted. Thus, when a new sharing platform is created by abuse.ch, an existing trusted community with ’power users’ will migrate swiftly to it, in order to enact the first sparks of collective intelligence dynamics. Second, the platform publication dynamics are analyzed and two different superlinear growths are observed. Third, the rewarding dynamics of a credit system is described - a promising incentive mechanism that could improve cooperation and information sharing in open-source intelligence communities through the gamification of the sharing activity. Overall, our study highlights future avenues of research to study the institutional rules enacting collective intelligence dynamics in cybersecurity. Thus, we show how the platform may improve the efficiency of information sharing between critical infrastructures, for example within Information Sharing and Analysis Centers using ThreatFox. Finally, a broad agenda for future empirical research in the field of cybersecurity information sharing is presented - an important activity to reduce information asymmetry between attackers and defenders.