Abstract-This paper revisits malicious object propagation in networks using epidemic theory in such a manner that it proposes the (Pre-quarantining) of nodes in networks. This is a concept that is known by experience to be a standard disease control procedure that involves screening and quarantining of immigrants to a population. As preliminary investigation we propose the Q-SEIRS model and the more advanced Q-SEIRS-V model for malicious objects' spread in networks. This Pre-quarantine concept addresses and implements the "assume guilty till proven innocent" slogan of the cyber world by providing a mechanism for pre-screening, isolation and treatment for incoming infected nodes. The treated nodes from the pre-quarantine compartment are sent to the recovered compartment while the free nodes join the network population. The paper also derived the reproduction number, equilibria, as well as local stability of the proposed model. Numerical methods are employed to solve the system of equations and MATLAB is used to simulate the system so as to visualize the dynamical behavior of the models. It is seen that pre-screening/prequarantining improves the recovery rate in relative terms.

Abstract-Epidemic models have been used in recent times to model the dynamics of malicious codes in wireless sensor network (WSN). This is due to its open nature which provides an easy target for malware attacks aimed at disrupting the activities of the network or at worse, causing total failure of the network. The Susceptible-Exposed-Infectious-Quarantined-RecoveredSusceptible with a Vaccination compartment (SEIQR-V) model by Mishra and Tyagi is one of such models that characterize worm dynamics in WSN. However, a critical analysis of this model and WSN epidemic literature shows that it is absent essential factors such as communication range and distribution density. Therefore, we modify the SEIQR-V model to include these factors and to generate better reproduction ratios for the introduction of an infectious sensor into a susceptible sensor population. The symbolic solutions of the equilibriums were derived for two topological expressions culled from WSN literature. A suitable numerical method was used to solve, simulate and validate the modified model. Simulation results show the effect of our modifications.

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Graphical abstractDiagrammatic representation of the A2CDSADM.