Abstract :
It has long been a significant but difficult problem to identify propagation sources based on limited knowledge of network structures and the varying states of network nodes. In practice, real cases can be locating the sources of rumors in online social networks and finding origins of a rolling blackout in smart grids. This talk reviews the state-of-the art in source identification techniques, and discusses the pros and cons of current methods in this field. Furthermore, in order to gain a quantitative understanding of current methods, we provide a series of experiments and comparisons based on various environment settings. Especially, our observation reveals considerable differences in performance by employing different network topologies, various propagation schemes and diverse propagation probabilities. We therefore reach a number of points for future work and list some open issues of current methods. Solutions to these open issues are of great academic and practical significance. This talk will be based on the following papers: 1. Sheng Wen, Wei Zhou, Jun Zhang, Yang Xiang, Wanlei Zhou, and Weijia Jia, "Modeling Propagation Dynamics of Social Network Worms", IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, vol. 24, no. 8, pp. 1633-1643, Aug. 2013. 2. Yini Wang, Sheng Wen, Yang Xiang, and Wanlei Zhou, "Modeling the Propagation of Worms in Networks: A Survey", IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, Volume:16, Issue:2, pp 942-960, 2014. 3. Sheng Wen, Wei Zhou, Jun Zhang, Yang Xiang, Wanlei Zhou, Weijia Jia, and Cliff C.Zou "Modeling and Analysis on the Propagation Dynamics of Modern Email Malware", IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, VOL. 11, NO. 4, pp. 361-374, JULY/AUGUST 2014. 4. Sheng Wen, Jiaojiao Jiang, Yang Xiang, Shui Yu, and Wanlei Zhou, "Are the Popular Users Always Important for the Information Dissemination in Online Social Networks?" IEEE Network, pp. 64-67, September/October 2014. 5. Sheng Wen, Mohammad Sayad Haghighi, Cha- Chen, Yang Xiang, Wanlei Zhou, and Weijia Jia, "A Sword with Two Edges: Propagation Studies on Both Positive and Negative Information in Online Social Networks", Accepted by IEEE Transactions on Computers, accepted 5/12/2013. Available online: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org /stamp/stamp.jsp?tp=&arnumber=6714520 6. Jiaojiao Jiang, Sheng Wen, Shui Yu, Yang Xiang, Wanlei Zhou, and Ekram Hossain, "Identifying Propagation Sources in Networks: State-of-the-Art and Comparative Studies", Accepted by IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, accepted 17/9/2014.