Sybil Attack - Reading Assignment

Bitcoin Attacks
#202

  1. In a sybil attack, is when one user creates many identities in order to influence a network by gaining more voting power.

  2. PoW is a strong feature of btc making it very expensive for someone to attempt a sybil attack. They would need to influence too many nodes within the blockchain in a small amount of time. If there weren’t miners competing to be paid for good confirmed blocks, then btc may be more of a target for sybil attacks.

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#203
  • What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
  1. For few to one entity to use and cheaply create multiple identities to influence a network and or possibly attack it.
  • What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
  1. Lack of identity validation, social trust graph algorithms, no fees to thwart bots, and simple (are you human?) Challenges that bots cannot perform…as of yet.
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#204

1.- Creating multiple identities to create influence.

2.- This may occur in nodes.

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#205

  1. Creating many online identities able to effect the network to vote upon the tracker directions.

  2. Anyone who has control over a lot of nodes or hash power in POW can gain serious effect over the network.

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#206

The general idea of a sybil attack is when one node on a network looks like it’s operating as the real network from multiple nodes.
The deficiencies that can allow a sybil attack to occur within a system would be the ease of anonymity, hence the creation of multiple identities and peer to peer networks.

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#207

  1. A person or a group of persons using pseudonymous identities to attack a network or to o gain a disproportionately large influence in it.

  2. A reputation system’s vulnerability to a Sybil attack depends on how cheaply identities can be generated, the degree to which the reputation system accepts inputs from entities that do not have a chain of trust linking them to a trusted entity, and whether the reputation system treats all entities identically

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#208
  1. Someone using many identities to influence a system or a part of it.
  2. Anonimity. The identity is not a person but an digital one.
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#209

  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    The attacker creates many identities as possible on the network to gain influence.

  2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
    When it’s easy to create new identities the attacker can get a majority of votes or stakes.

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#210

  1. A node get surrounded by other nodes and given wrong information, the peers nodes could be corrupted.

  2. A network that doesn’t have a strong consensus algorithm would allow an individual to easily overtake the network.

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#211

1- The attacker create a large number of fake identities in order to gain disproportinately large influence.
2- If its to cheap to creat many different identities, and the reputation system treats them identically a sybil attack could occur.

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#212
  1. tis when a hacker create a program that makes multiple identities that attacks a systems reputation vulnerability
  2. Glitches in the consensus algorithm
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#213

Hey @JessicaBW, hope you are well.

Did you forgot to type your answers to the 2nd question??
What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?

If you have any more questions, please let us know so we can help you! :slight_smile:

Carlos Z.

#214
  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack? — disproportionately large numbers of pseudonymous identities gain influence on a network, one person could pose as multiple users
  2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur? —- being too trusting and accepting entity inputs without means of ensuring a trust chain link, depending on a voting system where these entities can gain a majority, not ensuring 1 entity per 1 user
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#215

well shoot i thought i answered it… sorry will go back and answer it now.

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#216
  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?

That many profiles/identities are created on someones behalf to help their influence and reputation (through voting systems) so that they may themselves sway the direction of a network. Such as in peer to peer networks. KYC helps stop this in some crypto networks.

  1. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?

If say two major mining pools that were over 51% of the total network and they happened to be made of spoofed accounts of one person. this would be a major defiency in the bitcoin network.

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#217

Reading Assignment: Sybil Attack (Answers)

  1. An attacker creates multiply identities to subvert a network system.
  2. One attacker operating multiple nodes in a permissionless system could cause a Sybil attack, thru block validation processes.
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#218
  • What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    you can gain so much power in a system by creating so much identities in it.
  • What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
    It is easier to create an identity in a cryptocurrency network.
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#219
  1. A user creates many identities to try to influence the community
  2. A deficiency can be a cheap cost to create the identities and a poor number of the community to influence.
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#220

  • What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    One identity creating multiples identities as many as possible, creating such identities cheaply , and uses these extra identities to create unreal agreements among one another and gain influence over other users in the process . For various different purposes such as affecting voting outcomes.

  • What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
    When there is no KYC element in the identity creation, or when there is no PoW element which require miner to spend money before they can succeed in appending a new block to the blockchain.

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#221

What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
The attacker creates a large number of pseudonymous identities to gain a large influence on the network.

What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
This depends on various properties, such as how easily identities can be generated, which inputs are accepted from entities without a chain of trust link and whether the system treats all entities identically.

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