Disagreement Attack

Definition ∞ A disagreement attack targets the consensus mechanism of a distributed system by causing nodes to hold conflicting views on the state of the network. This malicious action prevents the system from reaching a unified agreement on transaction order or data validity. The attacker intentionally broadcasts inconsistent information to different parts of the network. Such attacks aim to halt progress or compromise data integrity within decentralized protocols.
Context ∞ The issue of disagreement attacks is a central concern in the design and security analysis of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, particularly in permissionless environments. Researchers continually refine consensus algorithms to withstand such adversarial behaviors, ensuring network liveness and safety even when a significant portion of participants act maliciously. Effective prevention methods are critical for system stability.