The fragility of interdependency

A study of failures in interconnected networks highlights the vulnerability of tightly coupled infrastructures and shows the need to consider mutually dependent network properties in designing resilient systems. On 28 September 2003, Italy suffered a near-nationwide power cut (Sicily was spared) that also brought down the Internet. Buldyrev et al. take this event, typical of a number that have occurred worldwide in recent years, and examine how...