Abstract

Structured peer-to-peer overlay networks provide a sub-strate for the construction of large-scale, decentralized applications, including distributed storage, group com-munication, and content distribution. These overlays are highly resilient; they can route messages correctly even when a large fraction of the nodes crash or the network partitions. But current overlays are not secure; even a small fraction of malicious nodes can prevent correct message delivery throughout the overlay. This prob-lem is particularly serious in open peer-to-peer systems, where many diverse, autonomous parties without pre-existing trust relationships wish to pool their resources. This paper studies attacks aimed at preventing correct message delivery in structured peer-to-peer overlays and presents defenses to these attacks. We describe and eval-uate techniques that allow nodes to join the overlay, to maintain routing state, and to forward messages securely in the presence of malicious nodes. 1

Citations