Impact of seed node position on network robustness under localized attacks
- 1Department of Systems Innovation, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan
Abstract
Localized attacks (LAs), where damage propagates from a single seed node to its neighbors, pose significant threats to the robustness of complex networks. Although previous studies have extensively analyzed network vulnerability under such attacks, they typically assume random seed node placement and evaluate average robustness. However, the structural position of the seed node can significantly impact the extent of damage. This study proposes the Localized Attack Vulnerability Index (LAVI), a node-level metric that quantifies the potential impact of a LA initiated at a specific node. LAVI quantifies the cumulative number of severed links during attack progression, capturing how local connectivity and topological position amplify the resulting damage. Numerical experiments on synthetic and real-world networks demonstrate that LAVI correlates more strongly with network robustness degradation than standard centrality measures, such as degree, closeness, and betweenness. Our findings highlight that classical centrality metrics fail to capture key dynamics of spatially localized failures, while LAVI provides an accurate and generalizable indicator of node vulnerability under such disruptions.
Related
- Stream and lake network position structures freshwater microbial communities across multiple catchments
- Tonic neuron position and network topology determine synchronization dynamics
- Differential impact of isoflurane on the topological organization of frontoparietal network in macaques
- Assessing measurement uncertainty at laboratory network scale and its impact on diagnostic performance in the absence of a gold standard: application to ELISA tests for Coxiella burnetii in ruminants
- Transcriptomic analysis combined with RNAi reveals defense strategies and molecular mechanisms in Western and Eastern honeybees against attacks by the yellow-legged hornet
BibTeX
@article{chujyo2026impact,
title = {{Impact of seed node position on network robustness under localized attacks}},
author = {Masaki Chujyo and Shu Liu and Fujio Toriumi},
journal = {PLOS One},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1371/journal.pone.0358769},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358769},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Impact of seed node position on network robustness under localized attacks
AU - Masaki Chujyo
AU - Shu Liu
AU - Fujio Toriumi
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/22
JO - PLOS One
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0358769
UR - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0358769
AB - Localized attacks (LAs), where damage propagates from a single seed node to its neighbors, pose significant threats to the robustness of complex networks. Although previous studies have extensively analyzed network vulnerability under such attacks, they typically assume random seed node placement and evaluate average robustness. However, the structural position of the seed node can significantly impact the extent of damage. This study proposes the Localized Attack Vulnerability Index (LAVI), a node-level metric that quantifies the potential impact of a LA initiated at a specific node. LAVI quantifies the cumulative number of severed links during attack progression, capturing how local connectivity and topological position amplify the resulting damage. Numerical experiments on synthetic and real-world networks demonstrate that LAVI correlates more strongly with network robustness degradation than standard centrality measures, such as degree, closeness, and betweenness. Our findings highlight that classical centrality metrics fail to capture key dynamics of spatially localized failures, while LAVI provides an accurate and generalizable indicator of node vulnerability under such disruptions.
SN - 1932-6203
ER -