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Basalt: A Rock-Solid Byzantine-Tolerant Peer Sampling for Very Large Decentralized Networks

Published: 27 November 2023 Publication History

Abstract

Recent large-scale Byzantine-Fault-Tolerant (BFT) algorithms provide scalability at a low cost by exploiting a secure Random Peer Sampling (RPS) service: a service that provides a stream of random network nodes where no attacking entity can become over-represented. Unfortunately, producing good peer samples untainted by Byzantine behavior in a large-scale network is particularly difficult, with existing solutions unable to withstand aggressive attacks. In this paper, we propose a novel RPS algorithm, BASALT, that implements what we have termed a stubborn chaotic search over node IDs to counter attackers' attempts at becoming over-represented. Our evaluation based on a theoretical analysis, Monte Carlo simulations, and experiments on a live cryptocurrency network shows that BASALT delivers close-to-optimal protection against malicious behaviors and outperforms state-of-the-art solutions by a wide margin.

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cover image ACM Conferences
Middleware '23: Proceedings of the 24th International Middleware Conference
November 2023
334 pages
ISBN:9798400701771
DOI:10.1145/3590140
Publication rights licensed to ACM. ACM acknowledges that this contribution was authored or co-authored by an employee, contractor or affiliate of a national government. As such, the Government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free right to publish or reproduce this article, or to allow others to do so, for Government purposes only.

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Published: 27 November 2023

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Author Tags

  1. Byzantine tolerance
  2. Distributed System
  3. Eclipse Attacks
  4. Gossip
  5. Peer Sampling

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Overall Acceptance Rate 203 of 948 submissions, 21%

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