This paper describes the vulnerability analysis of a complex network as the process of identifying the combination of component failures that provide maximum reduction of network performance. By way of a vulnerability analysis, the understanding of these failures can be related to the occurrence of a disruptive event, and also to the fundamental tasks for the protection of critical infrastructures. To describe vulnerability, the paper provides an analytical method to characterize completely the importance of network disruptions and identify a vulnerability set via the solution of a proposed multi-objective network vulnerability problem. This approach makes it possible to recognize that decision-makers (e.g. network managers) could benefit from understanding the relationship between different failure scenarios and network performance, for example, how the increase in protection resources would reduce the vulnerability of the network. Numerical examples, related to a medium-sized network and two complex networks, are solved using the evolutionary algorithm known as the multi-objective probabilistic solution discovery algorithm (MO-PSDA) and illustrate the proposed approach.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.