How an SMS-based malware infection will get throttled by the wireless link

As smart phones increase in popularity, they become an attractive target for attackers and spammers. This paper presents a new simulation model that evaluates the effects of an SMS-based malware infection in GSM and UMTS networks. It is the first known work that accounts for the wireless link of the network in modeling of malware propagation. The paper demonstrates propagation of the SMS-transmitted malware in a densely populated metropolitan area. It shows that spreading rate of cellular malware is tightly bounded by the actual network architecture and strongly diverges from the pattern seen in regular wired Internet-connected networks.