Committee Security

Definition ∞ Committee security refers to the resilience of a cryptographic system or blockchain protocol against attacks when a specific group of participants, or a committee, holds substantial authority. This concept evaluates the system’s ability to withstand issues even if a certain number of committee members act maliciously. It typically relies on threshold cryptography or multi-party computation to ensure that collective action is necessary for critical operations. The system’s integrity relies on the honest majority assumption within the committee.
Context ∞ Current discussions on committee security frequently address its application in proof-of-stake consensus mechanisms and various layer-2 scaling solutions. Concerns often involve the selection procedure for committee members and the possibility of collusion or improper influence among them. Future research aims to design more decentralized and adaptable committee structures that lessen single points of failure. The objective is to bolster overall network safety and resistance to censorship.