Trust-based storage in a Kademlia network infected by Sybils

Abstract

Coping with multiple false identities, also known as a Sybil attack, is one of the main challenges in securing structured peer-to-peer networks. Poisoning routing tables through these identities may make the process for storing and retrieving resources within a DHT (Distributed Hash Table) extremely difficult and time consuming. We investigate current possible countermeasures and propose a novel adaptive method for making the storage and retrieval process, in a Kademlia-based network, more secure. This is done through the use of a trust-based storage algorithm, exploiting reputation techniques. Our solution shows promising results in thwarting a Sybil attack in a Kademlia network, also in comparison with similar methods.