Modeling malware propagation in wireless sensor networks using cellular automata

A model based on cellular automata is proposed to investigate and analyze the process of malware propagation over wireless sensor networks by way of multi-hop broadcast protocols. The model captures the inherent characteristics of wireless sensor networks, i.e. limited resource, channel contention (MAC mechanism), and also reflects the self-organization, spatio-temporal correlation of process of malware propagation. The simulation results show that MAC mechanism and density of sensor node greatly influence the malware propagation over wireless sensor network, and the malware propagation diffuses continuously from infected nodes toward outside which is spatially bounded.