A group of researchers has proposed a new way to more closely monitor the behavior of nodes that relay information on a blockchain network.

Published by academics at Zhejian University, the National University of Singapore and Tianji University, the paper, the authors believe, could one day help ease cybersecurity issues around the tech.

Within the context of bitcoin, nodes store the network’s transaction history, maintaining and sharing information about the blockchain with connected peers. Yet any peer-to-peer system is at risk of cybersecurity concerns, including Sybil attacks, when fake identities are created and exploited on the network.

“Sybil attack[s] can be one kind of the cheatings. And there are many other cheatings that may show anomalous behavior patterns,” researcher Zhenguang Liu told CoinDesk in an email, adding:

“For example, blockchain nodes that are captured by a hacker may periodically conduct fake transactions, a malignant node may perform frequent transactions with very small amounts to slow down the network.”

Ultimately, they propose what they believe is a method for determining behaviors between nodes, which they think could solve some of those long-held issues – or, at least, provide a way for keeping a closer tab on a blockchain.

Read the full report here.

Alyssa Hertig contributed reporting.

Image via Shutterstock

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