Byzantine Attack

Definition ∞ A Byzantine attack describes a class of failures in distributed systems where malicious actors or faulty components provide conflicting information to different parts of the system. In blockchain contexts, this refers to scenarios where compromised nodes attempt to disrupt network consensus by broadcasting false transactions or invalid blocks. The Byzantine Generals’ Problem illustrates the challenge of achieving agreement among untrustworthy participants. Robust consensus mechanisms, like Proof of Work, are designed to withstand such attacks.
Context ∞ The discussion surrounding Byzantine attacks is fundamental to understanding the security and resilience of decentralized networks. Research continues to advance Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) protocols to ensure system integrity even with a significant proportion of malicious nodes. The practical implications of these attacks highlight the importance of network decentralization and cryptographic security in preventing system compromise.