Eclipse Attack
Updated 2026-08-09
INTRODUCTION
English translation pending.
CORE DEFINITION
In peer-to-peer systems such as blockchains, an eclipse attack occurs when an adversary takes over all inbound and outbound connections of a target node, cutting it off from honest peers. The victim's view of the ledger is then supplied entirely by the attacker, who can feed it a stale or false chain and mislead it into wasting work or accepting invalid state. The defense is connection diversity and limits on how many peers a single source can supply.
SCAFFOLDING EFFECT
Reduce cognitive load
- Check the surround: ask whether all your information sources trace back to one interest. - Open a bypass: build a channel independent of your current network to sample reality. - Diversify inputs: limit how many sources any single party is allowed to supply.
Anchor fast decisions
A node's knowledge of the network comes only from its peers, so controlling every peer means controlling the node's entire information environment. The victim cannot detect the deception from inside, because the fabricated view is internally consistent. Independence, not the number of connections, is what defeats the attack: many peers from one operator provide no more truth than a single one.
MINIMUM ACTION
In progress 0/1Practice this model in one real situation:
account_treeGenealogyexpand_more
menu_bookReferencesexpand_more
Source support: Explicit
- usenix.orghttps://www.usenix.org/conference/usenixsecurity15/technical-sessions/presentation/heilmanverified
PRIVATE NOTES · Only visible to you
SAVED Q&A
ENTRY Q&A · Private saving available
Ask with a clear boundary
thinkingmodels answers from published entry context only.
Your question is sent to thinkingmodels. The answer uses public entry context only.
RELATED MODELS