How to efficiently destroy a network with limited information

T. M. Vieira; G. M. Viswanathan; L. R. da Silva

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arXiv · 1411.2427

How to efficiently destroy a network with limited information

T. M. Vieira·G. M. Viswanathan·L. R. da Silva

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Abstract

We address the general problem of how best to attack and destroy a network by node removal, given limited or no prior information about the edges. We consider a family of strategies in which nodes are randomly chosen, but not removed. Instead, a random acquaintance (i.e., a first neighbour) of the chosen node is removed from the network. By assigning an informal cost to the information about the network structure, we show using cost-benefit analysis that acquaintance removal is the optimal strategy to destroy networks efficiently.

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T. M. Vieira, G. M. Viswanathan, L. R. da Silva. 2014-11-10. How to efficiently destroy a network with limited information. https://arxiv.org/abs/1411.2427

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