Byzantine Random Walks

Definition ∞ Byzantine Random Walks refer to a method of selecting nodes in a distributed network in a way that tolerates the presence of malicious or faulty participants, known as Byzantine actors. This technique involves nodes randomly moving through the network, gathering information or performing tasks, while maintaining a degree of resilience against corrupted data or behavior. It is designed to achieve robust network sampling or information dissemination even when some nodes are not operating honestly. The randomness helps prevent targeted attacks.
Context ∞ Byzantine Random Walks are a theoretical concept with practical applications in designing resilient decentralized systems, particularly for secure data sampling or committee selection in consensus protocols. In crypto news, this concept might surface in discussions about the security and robustness of new blockchain architectures or scaling solutions. The goal is to improve the efficiency and security of distributed computation without relying on global knowledge of all participants.