Worm containment based on double-neighbor lists in P2P overlay networks

The homogeneity and the heterogeneity among peers in P2P networks can be utilized to counter P2P worms. The heterogeneity among peers can slow down the spread of worms, and the homogeneity can make the corresponding alert propagate faster than a worm. The distance between peers is defined to represent the heterogeneity. We proposed a worm containment scheme based on double-neighbor lists in P2P overlay networks. One neighbor list is based on the largest distance, which is used for normal information transmission. The other is based on the smallest distance, which is constructed when an alert is needed to sent to other peers in overlay networks. Worms can be contained in P2P overlay networks. Experiment results show that the reduction rate of infected peers by a worm is up to 95% comparing to the random P2P network without double-neighbor lists when the number of neighbors is 5.