P2P Reputation Management Using Distributed Identities and Decentralized Recommendation Chains

—Peer-to-peer (P2P) networks are vulnerable to peers who cheat, propagate malicious code, leech on the network, or simply do not cooperate. The traditional security techniques developed for the centralized distributed systems like client-server networks are inappropriate for P2P networks by the virtue of their centralized nature. The absence of central authority in a P2P network poses unique challenges for reputation management in the network. These challenges include identity management of the peers, secure reputation data management, Sybil attack, and above all, availability of reputation data. In this paper, we present a cryptographic protocol for ensuring secure and timely availability of the reputation data of a peer to other peers at extremely low costs. The past behavior of the peer is encapsulated in its digital reputation, and is subsequently used to predict its future actions. As a result, a peer’s reputation motivates it to cooperate and desist from malicious activities....

• Type: Journal
• Year: 2010
• Where: TKDE
• Authors: Prashant Dewan, Partha Dasgupta
• Keywords: P2P Network, Reputation Data, Sybil Attack, TKDE 2010