Source-linked AI summary
Robustness of interdependent networks under targeted attack
Xuqing Huang, Jianxi Gao, Sergey V. Buldyrev, Shlomo Havlin, H. Eugene Stanley
TL;DR
Interdependent-network robustness under targeted attacks on nodes of different degrees has not been addressed. The paper develops a mapping from targeted attacks to random attacks on transformed networks and finds that coupled scale-free networks retain nonzero percolation thresholds across the attack range, making high-degree-node protection less effective than in single networks.
Problem
Robustness of interdependent networks under initial targeted attack depending on node degree has not been addressed.
Method
The paper develops a mathematical framework that maps targeted-attack problems to random-attack problems on transformed networks.
Results
For single scale-free networks, p_c approaches 0 as α becomes zero or negative, whereas interdependent networks have nonzero p_c across the entire α range.
Takeaways & Limitations
Interdependent networks are significantly more difficult to protect than single networks, including when highly connected nodes are defended.
Takeaways & Limitations
The paper indicates that existing robustness strategies, such as protecting high-degree nodes, need to be modified for interdependent networks.
Abstract
from arXiv · showhide
When an initial failure of nodes occurs in interdependent networks, a cascade of failure between the networks occurs. Earlier studies focused on random initial failures. Here we study the robustness of interdependent networks under targeted attack on high or low degree nodes. We introduce a general technique and show that the {\it targeted-attack} problem in interdependent networks can be mapped to the {\it random-attack} problem in a transformed pair of interdependent networks. We find that when the highly connected nodes are protected and have lower probability to fail, in contrast to single scale free (SF) networks where the percolation threshold $p_c=0$, coupled SF networks are significantly more vulnerable with $p_c$ significantly larger than zero. The result implies that interdependent networks are difficult to defend by strategies such as protecting the high degree nodes that have been found useful to significantly improve robustness of single networks.