Cyber security is of topical concern in the computing industry and in organizations that require ICT infrastructure for business-related activities. Theft or disrupting the flow of data and information can cause devastating damage to an institution’s reputation and this may lead to huge financial losses. More mayhem can be perpetrated by malicious codes such as worms to organizations that use wireless sensor networks for collecting and transmitting data and information. To tackle this issue of cyber security, researchers have used epidemiological models (such as SEIR and SEIR-V) to gain insight into malicious code propagation. However, topological concerns and its impact in worm propagation haven’t been thoroughly studied. Here, we modify older models by applying a different expression for sensor deployment area; we intend to highlight the spatial parameters that may allow for the extinction of worms in wireless sensor networks amidst countermeasures deployed by network managers.

Sensor networks are appealing targets for malicious attacks that invade the network with the aim of depleting the confidentiality, availability and integrity (CIA) features/parameters of neighboring sensor nodes. This is due to its open communication, minimal resources and its deployment in un-trusted, unguarded and unfriendly terrains. To restrict illegitimate users or malicious attackers (such as worms) network analysts have suggested network access control (NAC). Specifically, we apply NAC to wireless sensor network epidemic models in order to investigate distribution density, transmission range and sensor area/field. Our analyses involved analytical expressions of two sensor fields gleaned from literature. Additionally, we explored the possibilities of infectivity of sensor nodes at the exposed class using the two expressions for sensor field topologies. We also derived the reproduction ratios and solutions at several equilibrium points for the models. It is our hope that that our work herein would impact sensor deployment decisions for organizations that utilize wireless sensor networks for meaningful daily activities.