Homophyly and Randomness Resist Cascading Failure in Networks

Abstract: The universal properties of power law and small world phenomenon of networks seem unavoidably obstacles for security of networking systems. Existing models never give secure networks. We found that the essence of security is the security against cascading failures of attacks and that nature solves the security by mechanisms. We proposed a model of networks by the natural mechanisms of homophyly, randomness and preferential attachment. It was shown that homophyly creates a community structure, that homophyly and randomness introduce ordering in the networks, and that homophyly creates inclusiveness and introduces rules of infections. These principles allow us to provably guarantee the security of the networks against any attacks. Our results show that security can be achieved provably by structures, that there is a tradeoff between the roles of structures and of thresholds in security engineering, and that power law and small world property are never obstacles for security of networks.