A compartmental model for computer virus propagation with kill signals

Research in the area of kill signals for prevention of computer virus is of significant importance for computer users. The kill signals allow computer users to take precautions beforehand. In this paper, a computer virus propagation model based on the kill signals, called SEIR-KS model, is formulated and full dynamics of the proposed model are theoretically analyzed. An epidemic threshold is obtained and the existence and uniqueness of the virus equilibrium are investigated. It is proved that the virus-free equilibrium and virus equilibrium are locally and globally asymptotically stable by applying Routh–Hurwitz criterion and Lyapunov functional approach. The results of numerical simulations are provided that verifies the theoretical results. The availability of the proposed model has been validated with following observations: (1) the density of infected nodes in the proposed model drops to approximately 75% compared to the model in related literature; and (2) a higher density of KS is conductive to inhibition of virus diffusion.