Protecting vulnerable networks from attack

New Scientist : Among the systems currently considered to be at risk of a terrorist or military attack are the electrical grid, the air transport network, the banking system, and the internet, writes Mark Buchanan for New Scientist. However, Christian Schneider, a physicist at ETH Zürich, and his colleagues have found that when large technological networks undergo minor changes, which would multiply the paths along which information flows, their security can be greatly improved. The researchers, who have published their results in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, used a computer model to study the effects of rewiring a network and found that changing even just 2% of the links in a system could have a huge positive effect. An increase in the number of alternative paths connecting any two points means that the network remains more highly connected even when some key spots get taken out. “This represents a significant step towards a better understanding of how vital networks can be better protected against malicious attacks,” says physicist Hernan Makse of the City College of New York.