the branch of mathematics concerned with the analysis of strategies for dealing with competitive situations where informed participants’ choice of actions depends on the actions of other participants. Game theory works well with small numbers of players, finite options and quantifiable gains and losses. Game theory has been applied in war, in business, in biology and in many domains and applies best in cyber domains when motivation is financial (and less well for APTs working for non-financial gain).

Controversy: in the Intelligence space and some militaries, this term has been overhyped in a non-cyber context, especially where there are unintelligent opponents or poor access to data or quantification of options.