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News Release 09-105 - Video

This video depicts the spreading pattern of a Bluetooth mobile phone virus.

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This video depicts the spreading pattern of a Bluetooth mobile phone virus. Transmission of a Bluetooth virus follows a wave-like pattern, predominantly infecting users in the vicinity where the virus was released due to the fact that a Bluetooth virus can only infect Bluetooth-activated phones in a 10-30 meter radius. This simulation of infection shows that, in the absence of intervention, Bluetooth viruses will eventually infect all susceptible handsets, but the rate is slow compared to MMS viruses because spread is limited by human behavioral and mobility patterns.

Credit: Pu Wang, University of Notre Dame, Physics
Marta C. González, Northeastern University, Physics
César A. Hidalgo, Harvard Kennedy School of Government
Albert-László Barabási, Northeastern University, Harvard Medical School and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute

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