Attack vulnerability of complex networks

Petter Holme, Beom Jun Kim, Chang No Yoon, and Seung Kee Han
Phys. Rev. E 65, 056109 – Published 7 May 2002
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Abstract

We study the response of complex networks subject to attacks on vertices and edges. Several existing complex network models as well as real-world networks of scientific collaborations and Internet traffic are numerically investigated, and the network performance is quantitatively measured by the average inverse geodesic length and the size of the largest connected subgraph. For each case of attacks on vertices and edges, four different attacking strategies are used: removals by the descending order of the degree and the betweenness centrality, calculated for either the initial network or the current network during the removal procedure. It is found that the removals by the recalculated degrees and betweenness centralities are often more harmful than the attack strategies based on the initial network, suggesting that the network structure changes as important vertices or edges are removed. Furthermore, the correlation between the betweenness centrality and the degree in complex networks is studied.

  • Received 19 December 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevE.65.056109

©2002 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Petter Holme* and Beom Jun Kim

  • Department of Theoretical Physics, Umeå University, 901 87 Umeå, Sweden

Chang No Yoon and Seung Kee Han

  • Department of Physics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju, Chungbuk 361-763, Korea

  • *Electronic address: holme@tp.umu.se
  • Electronic address: kim@tp.umu.se Present address: Department of Molecular Science and Technology, Ajou University, Suwon 442-749, Korea.

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Vol. 65, Iss. 5 — May 2002

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