The topology of covert conflict

[coderman]

an interesting paper...

http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/TechReports/UCAM-CL-TR-637.pdf

"Abstract. Often an attacker tries to disconnect a network by
destroying nodes or edges, while the defender counters using various
resilience mechanisms. Examples include a music industry body
attempting to close down a peer-to-peer file-sharing network; medics
attempting to halt the spread of an infectious disease by selective
vaccination; and a police agency trying to decapitate a terrorist
organisation. Albert, Jeong and Barabasi famously analysed the static
case, and showed that vertex-order attacks are effective against
scale-free networks. We extend this work to the dynamic case by
developing a framework based on evolutionary game theory to explore
the interaction of attack and defence strategies. We show, first, that
naive defences don't work against vertex-order attack; second, that
defences based on simple redundancy don't work much better, but that
defences based on cliques work well; third, that attacks based on
centrality work better against clique defences than vertex-order
attacks do; and fourth, that defences based on complex strategies such
as delegation plus clique resist centrality attacks better than simple
clique defences. Our models thus build a bridge between network
analysis and evolutionary game theory, and provide a framework for
analysing defence and attack in networks where topology matters. They
suggest definitions of efficiency of attack and defence, and may even
explain the evolution of insurgent organisations from networks of
cells to a more virtual leadership that facilitates operations rather
than directing them. Finally, we draw some conclusions and present
possible directions for future research..."