  This paper presents ESCAPE, an informed moving target defense mechanism for
cloud containers. ESCAPE models the interaction between attackers and their
target containers as a "predator searching for a prey" search game. Live
migration of Linux-containers (prey) is used to avoid attacks (predator) and
failures. The entire process is guided by a novel host-based
behavior-monitoring system that seamlessly monitors containers for indications
of intrusions and attacks. To evaluate ESCAPE effectiveness, we simulated the
attack avoidance process based on a mathematical model mimicking the
prey-vs-predator search game. Simulation results show high container survival
probabilities with minimal added overhead.
