Impact of cybersecurity awareness on mobile malware propagation: A dynamical model

Abstract

Despite the recent increase in mass media attention to mobile malware, it is still one of the major mobile security threats due to the lack of cybersecurity awareness. The compartment mode can divide the individuals into different states whose name is often a combination of the state names. To explore the impact of the security awareness level of users on susceptible and infected mobile devices, we propose a novel Unaware-Susceptible Aware-Susceptible Latent Breakout Quarantine Recovery (SuSaLBQR) compartment model for mobile malware propagation. In this model, the susceptible mobile devices are divided into two sub-classes: the Su compartment and the Sa compartment depending on the security awareness level of their corresponding users. Based on some reasonable assumptions, a dynamical system is proposed to describe mobile malware propagation behaviors. To explore how malware ultimately spreads, two distinct equilibria (i.e., the malware-spreading and malware-free equilibria) are obtained. Furthermore, the global asymptotic stabilities of those two equilibria are proved by constructing the Lyapunov functions, respectively. The above analysis can provide a theoretical basis for controlling mobile malware propagation. Finally, based on the theoretical and numerical results, a discussion is provided. We find that the above two factors can significantly affect the presence and prevalence of malware in mobile networks.