Vulnerability of state-interdependent networks under malware spreading

Computer viruses are evolving by developing spreading mechanisms based on the use of multiple vectors of propagation. The use of the social network as an extra vector of attack to penetrate the security measures in IP networks is improving the effectiveness of malware, and have therefore been used by the most aggressive viruses, like Conficker and Stuxnet. In this work we use interdependent networks to model the propagation of these kind of viruses. In particular, we study the propagation of a SIS model on interdependent networks where the state of each node is layer-independent and the dynamics in each network follows either a contact process or a reactive process, with different propagation rates. We apply this study to the case of existing multilayer networks, namely a Spanish scientific community of Statistical Physics, formed by a social network of scientific collaborations and a physical network of connected computers in each institution. We show that the interplay between layers increases dramatically the infectivity of viruses in the long term and their robustness against immunization.

Simple rules govern finite-size effects in scale-free networks

We give an intuitive though general explanation of the finite-size effect in scale-free networks in terms of the degree distribution of the starting network. This result clarifies the relevance of the starting network in the final degree distribution. We use two different approaches: the deterministic mean-field approximation used by Barabasi and Albert (but taking into account the nodes of the starting network), and the probability distribution of the degree of each node, which considers the stochastic process. Numerical simulations show that the accuracy of the predictions of the mean-field approximation depend on the contribution of the dispersion in the final distribution. The results in terms of the probability distribution of the degree of each node are very accurate when compared to numerical simulations. The analysis of the standard deviation of the degree distribution allows us to assess the influence of the starting core when fitting the model to real data.