Byzantine agreement with a rational adversary

Adam Groce*, Jonathan Katz, Aishwarya Thiruvengadam, Vassilis Zikas

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

Abstract / Description of output

Traditionally, cryptographers assume a worst-case adversary who can act arbitrarily. More recently, they have begun to consider rational adversaries who can be expected to act in a utility-maximizing way. Here we apply this model for the first time to the problem of Byzantine agreement (BA) and the closely related problem of broadcast, for natural classes of utilities. Surprisingly, we show that many known results (e.g., equivalence of these problems, or the impossibility of tolerating t∈≥∈n/2 corruptions) do not hold in the rational model. We study the feasibility of information-theoretic (both perfect and statistical) BA assuming complete or partial knowledge of the adversary's preferences. We show that perfectly secure BA is possible for t∈<∈n corruptions given complete knowledge of the adversary's preferences, and characterize when statistical security is possible with only partial knowledge. Our protocols have the added advantage of being more efficient than BA protocols secure in the traditional adversarial model.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAutomata, Languages, and Programming
Subtitle of host publication39th International Colloquium, ICALP 2012, Proceedings
PublisherSpringer
Pages561-572
Number of pages12
EditionPART 2
ISBN (Electronic)978-3-642-31585-5
ISBN (Print)978-3-642-31584-8
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 13 Jul 2012
Event39th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming - Warwick, United Kingdom
Duration: 9 Jul 201213 Jul 2012
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/dimap/icalp2012/

Publication series

NameLecture Notes in Computer Science
PublisherSpringer, Berlin, Heidelberg
NumberPART II
Volume7392
ISSN (Print)0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)1611-3349

Conference

Conference39th International Colloquium on Automata, Languages, and Programming
Abbreviated titleICALP 2012
Country/TerritoryUnited Kingdom
CityWarwick
Period9/07/1213/07/12
Internet address

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