Author: Gregory Maxwell 2014-08-18 19:37:49
Published on: 2014-08-18T19:37:49+00:00
In an email exchange on August 18, 2014, Ivan Pustogarov expressed concern about the potential for attackers without peers on the Bitcoin network to link together different Bitcoin addresses and learn the IP address of the client. However, the recipient of the email was confused as to how this would be possible without any peers on the network. Pustogarov explained that the 8 entry peers are unique per client, so if two users share the same IP, they can be distinguished. The discussion then turned to the rotation of outbound connections due to remote disconnections, which is a mechanism currently in place. The initial connections have a preference for nodes that were up recently, but this could potentially be improved upon. Despite some flaws in the current system, it was decided not to make it worse by further limiting connectivity.
Updated on: 2023-05-19T19:14:22.156994+00:00