Search

Highlights • The spreading characteristics of cyber rumors over mobile social networks are addressed. • A new compartmental compartmental model for cyber rumor spreading is developed. • Rumor-denier's behavior of refuting rumors is incorporated. • The dynamic properties of the model are analyzed. • Numerical simulations illustrate theoretical results and indicate suggestions for inhibiting rumours spreading. Abstract By incorporating the spreading characteristics of cyber rumors over mobile social networks, we newly develop a dynamic system to model rumor spreading dynamics by the compartment method. Specifically, a couple of a user and an attached device is viewed as a node, and all network nodes are separated into four compartments: Rumor-Neutral, Rumor-Received, Rumor-Believed and Rumor-Denied. Some transition parameters among these groups are introduced. Additionally, the role of memory, user's ability to distinguish the rumors and rumor-denier's behavior of refuting rumors are also incorporated. The stability of the equilibria of the model system is addressed, and the influence of model parameters upon the threshold is analyzed. Finally, numerical simulations illustrate the theoretical results, and also motivate us to propose suitable measures to control cyber rumor spreading by properly adjusting the parameter values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The immunities of computers against malware are actually heterogeneous depending upon the level of secure protection, which is largely determined by the security awareness of users. To understand the effects this can have on the propagation of malicious software, we herein develop a new compartmental model that takes into account heterogeneous immunization of the computer. In terms of protection levels, the traditional susceptible compartment is newly separated into two sub-compartments, weakly-protected and strongly-protected. Besides, our model includes two assumptions: a computer immediately possesses infectivity once it is infected by malware, and weakly-protected susceptible computers have a higher infection rate than strongly-protected susceptible computers. Appropriate Lyapunov functions are introduced to fully analyze the qualitative properties of this model. Specifically, it is proved that the malware-free equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable if the threshold is below unit, whereas the malware equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable if the threshold is above unit. Furthermore, the sensitivity of each parameter on the model’s threshold is also analyzed. Through numerical simulations, a collection of effective measures for controlling malware spread is proposed, such as keeping as many systems strongly-protected as possible. These findings suggest that the security awareness of users should be taken both in the interpretation of malware parameters, as well as in the prediction of the evolution of future malware outbreaks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper aims to explore the influence of vaccination on the diffusion of computer viruses under more reasonable assumptions. By incorporating a vaccination probability in the SIRS model with generalized nonlinear incidence rate, a novel epidemic model of computer viruses is established. A thorough analysis of this model shows that, depending on the value of the basic reproduction number, either the virus-free equilibrium or the endemic equilibrium is globally asymptotically stable. Simulation results not only justify the proposed model, but also demonstrate the effectiveness of vaccination. Based on a parameter analysis for the model, some effective strategies for inhibiting the virus prevalence are posed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]