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The impact of nonlinear infection rate on the spread of computer virus

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Abstract

The dominating majority of previous computer virus epidemic models assume a bilinear infection rate. This assumption, however, ignores the fact that, due to reasons such as overcrowded infected nodes and active protection measures taken at a high level of viral prevalence, the infection rate typically rises in a nonlinear fashion. This paper is devoted to understanding the impact of nonlinear infection rate on the propagation of computer infections. For that purpose, a new computer virus epidemic model is proposed by introducing a generic nonlinear infection rate into a traditional SLBS model. Theoretical analysis shows that, under moderate conditions, the proposed model admits a (viral) globally asymptotically stable equilibrium, fully demonstrating the robustness of stability of the equilibrium to the details of infections. The new model is justified through simulation experiments. We also determine the influence of some model parameters on the viral equilibrium. Our results extend some previously known results.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments and suggestions that have greatly improved the quality of this paper. This work is supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 61379158), Science and Technology Support Program of China (Grant No. 2014BAH25F01), and Basic and Advanced Research Program of Chongqing (Grant No. cstc2014jcyjA40054).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Computer Science, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China

    Lu-Xing Yang

  2. School of Software Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400044, China

    Xiaofan Yang

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  1. Lu-Xing Yang
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Correspondence to Xiaofan Yang.

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Yang, LX., Yang, X. The impact of nonlinear infection rate on the spread of computer virus. Nonlinear Dyn 82, 85–95 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11071-015-2140-z

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