Modeling and Analysis of Divide-and-Rule-Hybrid-Benign Worms

Due to the active defense against the propagation of worms, benign worms are attracting wide attention in the field of worm research. The idea of benign worm is to transform a malicious worm into an anti-worm which spreads itself using the same mechanism as the original worm and immunizes a host. It allows for an active measure of malicious worms that can potentially be deployed with no additional infrastructure in place. A divide-and-rule-hybrid-benign worm is a pattern of hybrid benign worms. It can avoid the additional traffic generated by benign worms in the final stage of benign worms countering against worms. Divide-and-rule-hybrid-benign worms are classified into three subtypes by analyzing their characteristics. The propagation models of these three subtypes are derived under the circumstance of time delay and no time delay, and they depict the process of divide-and-rule-hybrid-benign worms countering against worms. Finally, the simulation validates the propagation models. And there is a conclusion that a composite divide-and-rule-hybrid-benign worm is the most effective approach for containing the propagation of worms under the same infectious condition. These models of benign worms lead to a better understanding and prediction of the scale and speed of benign worms countering against the propagation of worms.