Error and attack tolerance of complex networks

Communication/transportation systems are often subjected to failures and attacks. Here we represent such systems as networks and we study their ability to resist failures (attacks) simulated as the breakdown of a group of nodes of the network chosen at random (chosen accordingly to degree or load). We consider and compare the results for two different network topologies: the Erdos-Renyi random graph and the Barabasi-Albert scale-free network. We also discuss briefly a dynamical model recently proposed to take into account the dynamical redistribution of loads after the initial damage of a single node of the network. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.