Forwarded from: R. A. Hettinga <rahat_private> http://www.nd.edu/~networks/Papers/nature_attack.pdf Error and attack tolerance of complex networks Reka Albert, Hawoong Jeong & Albert-Laszlo Barabasi Department of Physics, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA <....> > In summary, we find that scale-free networks display a surprisingly high >degree of tolerance against random failures, a property not shared by >their exponential counterparts. This robustness is probably the basis of >the error tolerance of many complex systems, ranging from cells 8 to >distributed communication systems. It also explains why, despite frequent >router problems 23, we rarely experience global network outages or, >despite the temporary unavailability of many web pages, our ability to >surf and locate information on the web is unaffected. However, the error >tolerance comes at the expense of attack survivability: the diameter of >these networks increases rapidly and they break into many isolated >fragments when the most connected nodes are targeted. Such decreased >attack survivability is useful for drug design 8, but it is less >encouraging for communication systems, such as the Internet or the WWW. >Although it is generally thought that attacks on networks with distributed >resource management are less successful, our results indicate otherwise. >The topological weaknesses of the current communication networks, rooted >in their inhomogeneous connectivity distribution, seriously reduce their >attack survivability. This could be exploited by those seeking to damage >these systems. ---- See also: http://vlado.fmf.uni-lj.si/pub/networks/pajek/pajekman.htm which looks like an interesting package for graphing complex network structures... Cheers, RAH -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rahat_private> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' - ISN is currently hosted by Attrition.org To unsubscribe email majordomoat_private with 'unsubscribe isn' in the BODY of the mail.
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