Author: David A. Harding 2018-06-02 12:41:57
Published on: 2018-06-02T12:41:57+00:00
In a Bitcoin development discussion thread, Jim Posen argues that it is unacceptable for a client to have to stop syncing in the presence of even one malicious peer, due to the lack of ability to verify filter validity. However, Dave questions this assertion, suggesting that if a node generates filters accurately and another node does so inaccurately, but both send their filters to Bob, he will be able to download any blocks relevant to his wallet as indicated by either filter. If a false negative arises from Mallory's inaccurate filter when Alice's filter suggested a possible match, then this would provide evidence of deceit on Mallory's part and allow for her ban. False positives can also be recorded and eventually lead to a ban should they exceed a certain threshold. Until banned, Mallory would only be wasting Bob's bandwidth and that of nodes serving accurate information. Though the attacker:defender asymmetry in wasted bandwidth would increase with decreasing accuracy, this would also increase the false positive rate and speed up the banning process, making it a less significant DoS vector.
Updated on: 2023-06-13T02:26:09.231400+00:00