Mathematical model on distributed denial of service attack through Internet of things in a network

Abstract

Abstract Internet of Things (IoT) opens up the possibility of agglomerations of different types of devices, Internet and human elements to provide extreme interconnectivity among them towards achieving a completely connected world of things. The mainstream adaptation of IoT technology and its widespread use has also opened up a whole new platform for cyber perpetrators mostly used for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. In this paper, under the influence of internal and external nodes, a two - fold epidemic model is developed where attack on IoT devices is first achieved and then IoT based distributed attack of malicious objects on targeted resources in a network has been established. This model is mainly based on Mirai botnet made of IoT devices which came into the limelight with three major DDoS attacks in 2016. The model is analyzed at equilibrium points to find the conditions for their local and global stability. Impact of external nodes on the over-all model is critically analyzed. Numerical simulations are performed to validate the vitality of the model developed.