Measuring topological robustness of scale-free networks using biconnected components

Models of complex networks are dependent on various properties of networks like connectivity, accessibility, efficiency, robustness, degree distribution etc. Network robustness is a parameter that reflects attack tolerance of a network in terms of connectivity. In this paper we have tried to measure the robustness of a network in such a way that gives a better idea of both stability and reliability of a network. In some previous works, the existence of a giant connected component is considered as an indicator of structural robustness of the entire system. In this paper we show that the size of a largest biconnected component can be a better parameter for measurement of robustness of a complex network. Our experimental study exhibits that scale-free networks are more vulnerable to sustained targeted attacks and more resilient to random failures.