Sybil Attack - Reading Assignment

Bitcoin Attacks
#142

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

Could be, but why? could you please describe a little bit more what do you mean?

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

Carlos Z.

#143

Anonymous as in the hackers and crooks could maintain the anonymity of their identities by creating pseudonymous identities. Thus gaining large a disproportionally influence of the network.

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#144
  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    A node get surrounded by other nodes and given wrong information, the peers being corrupt.
  2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
    The user don’t change peers.
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#145
  1. Sybil Attack’s general idea is that someone creates a lot of fake accounts, to be able to manipulate a network or community on votes or likes as examples.
  2. Cheap & ability to create multiple accounts of a single person so the accounts are unindentified.
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#146

  1. One identity to simulate that it’s many identities, in order to gain some benefit.

  2. The fact that multiple identities can come from one entity and everything is more or less confidential.

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#147

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

An attack with the intention to overthrow a reputation system by the attacker’s creation of multiple identities to gain a disproportionately large influence; either to multiply the amount of work needed to propagate data, or to actively insert fraudulent information into the network’s data stream. The potential success of these attacks basically depends on whether a reputation system accepts inputs from entities that do not have a chain of trust linking them to a trusted entity or not. Also, whether the reputation system treats all entities identically or not. An entity on a peer-to-peer network is really a piece of software with access to local resources that presents itself through an identity . By default, each distinct identity is assumed to correspond to a distinct local entity, but in reality, many identities can correspond to the same local entity. Peer-to-peer networks e.g. use multiple identities for redundancy, resource sharing, reliability and integrity.

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

Its decentralised, distributed nature. Local nodes within a peer-to-peer network replicate data to improve security and increase availability. For replication, this data must be placed on remote nodes. A Sybil attack infiltrates the network because a local node cannot distinguish if a remote node is honest. The local node believes it is placing data on several distinct remote nodes, when it’s really communicating with a single remote node presenting multiple fake identities. Blockchain data is impossible to fake though, so sybil attacks have limited effect. At worst, they can insert easily detected fake data, such as large transactions, that do not validate, or blocks that contain bad information.

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#148

1.Creating multiple identities to acquire a disproportionate level of control over the network

  1. The ease of creating new identities
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#149

Response:

  1. Creating many identities from one entity in order to gain control - general idea of sybil attack
  2. Sybil attacks may occur more frequently on networks where the entry is cheap. The attacker can buy their way in through a large proportion of the networks tokens and pawn off as multiple “users.”
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#150

  1. The general idea of a sybil attack is one person uses many fake identities to cast votes and take control of a conversation, network or to make something appear valid that isn’t valid(there are lots of ways this attack can be used in malicious ways).

  2. The deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) that can allow a sybil attack to occur are: if it is easy and cheap to buy lots of tokens in POS, if users are not validated in any way it can be easy to make lots of fake identities.

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#151
  1. General idea of a sybil attack is using multiple identities while being one entity
  2. Deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur. Consequences are easier to find like invest/buy more stakes/ and thus gaining more voting power.
    But when this happens, is any system deficient? Often is said that the loudest wheel recieves the oil. While I am typing, I remember the emergency course for the driving licence: we must put an attentive quick panoramic overview and then not get fooled by the loudest person, but put our attention on the eventual injured person who is silent, immobile. It seems to have a parallel, like an well operated “attention management”
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#152

1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
With a sybil attack a hacker intercepts all traffic on nodes a hacker controls.
2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
An 51% attack is a form of sybil attack. Because in bitcoin there is a democratic system. where 51% can rule bitcoin.

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#153
  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    The idea is of multiple identities that do not have a chain of trust of linking them to a trusted entity
  2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
    The adversary may thus be able to acquire a disproportionate level of control over the network, such as by affecting voting outcomes.
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#154
  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    An entity want to gain more influence towards the network by using more identities.
  2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
    When there is no central point that is mapping the entity/identity pair, than there is a higher chance to get Sybil-attacks. If you do not combine a Proof of Work consensus algorithm to this system, than it is free to make more identities related to one entity. Proof of work makes Sybil - attacks more expensive. Within other consensus-algorithms (for example Proof of Stake) it is important to be aware of this.
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#155

1 A sybil attack is where a particular network is attacked by creating multiple malicious identities, if a single entity (ie a company or person) is able to create multiple identities on the network they would be able to act maliciously and have a lot of sway over the network such as in the case of cryptocurrency, if there was no form of protection they would be able to vote on malicious governance proposals or validate transactions that are not correct

  1. The main deficiency is that these Identities can be created cheaply, for example resources do not need to be expended in creating and acting under an identity. This is not an issue with cryptocurrencies. Also many networks need a form of validation that is not too easy to obtain and use maliciously. This is an area in which many cryptocurrencies excel at either using POW or POS to ensure actions taken by entities are correct and not malcious. Also private keys sign transactions to ensure a certain entity has made a transaction rather than a malicious identity
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#156
  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    A: Creating max amount of identities through a single entity on the Blockchain to get influence and an unfair advantage
  2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?
    A: Consensus algorithm could be flawed which means voting rights could be inflated through mass identity creation
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#157

1.What is the general idea of a Sybil attack?

Peer to Peer networks operate under the assumption that every identity (in the case of blockchain, every node) corresponds to a distinct local entity. However, in reality, many identities could correspond to the same local entity i.e. many nodes could be controlled/influenced by a single entity.
In a Sybil attack, multiple fake identities are presented and could be used to influence decisions and/or gain disproportionate advantage in a decentralized network that operates on the system of voting or to deliberately insert fraudulent information into the network’s data stream.

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

If it is low cost and simple to create many identities that could be used to manipulate events leading to disproportionately high rewards, the tendency to mount such attacks would be more. The success of the Sybil attack would depend on whether the reputation system of the P2P network treats all entities identically and whether it has an inbuilt ability to look for a chain of trust linking each input to a trusted entity.

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#158
  1. What is the general idea of a sybil attack?
    An entity creates several identities (could be BTC nodes , or BTC wallets and so on) to gain the trust of other entities
  2. What deficiencies within a system (such as a cryptocurrency network) can allow a sybil attack to occur?

because there is no central authority to validate the real identity of any entity in the BTC network, the BTC network is prone to such attacks … it could be that for example, now thaat china has over 60% of the hash power, the government could seize all of that hardware and make a coordinated attack on the BTC network

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#159
  1. To gain power over a system with lots of smaller accounts.
  2. Maybe if I gain the majority of hash power I can change the system?
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#160

Indeed, you could choose which transactions on the mempool to be mined or not for example.

Carlos Z

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#161

The general Idea is to take down a reputation system by creating a lot of identities to enter into that system.
The deficiencies of making it easy to create an ID and enter(Low barriour of entry) also how cheaply these multiple 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… making it all easy to take down the system.

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