Network Stability under Viral Attack - A Game Entitled 'God and the Devil'

The problem of viral attacks on communications networks is explored with an emphasis on the time taken for network recovery. The problem is studied by means of a game which allows for different initial states of the network followed by state evolution according to a fixed rule-set. It is found that only a small percentage of nodes in the network need be equipped with countermeasure software for a near asymptotic recovery time to be achieved. However, for all realistic countermeasure percentages, the time for complete recovery - a situation similar to human illnessrecouperation time ratios. Keywords Computer viruses, Great Britain.