How Does a BFT-based Consensus Mechanism Prevent a Malicious Node from Disrupting the Network?
BFT mechanisms, like pBFT, ensure safety as long as less than one-third of the validator nodes are malicious or fail. They work by having all non-faulty nodes agree on the state through a series of message exchanges: prepare, commit, and reply.
The protocol allows honest nodes to reach consensus even when some nodes send conflicting or incorrect information. This resilience is based on the ability to detect and ignore faulty nodes while ensuring all honest nodes commit the same transaction order.
Glossar
BFT
Mechanism ⎊ Byzantine Fault Tolerance (BFT) represents a critical consensus protocol within distributed systems, notably impacting blockchain technology and cryptographic applications where achieving agreement among potentially faulty nodes is paramount.
Node
Entity ⎊ A Node is an individual participant computer that validates transactions, maintains a copy of the ledger, and contributes to the overall security and decentralization of the cryptocurrency Network.
Malicious Nodes
Exploitation ⎊ Malicious nodes, within cryptocurrency networks and financial derivatives markets, represent compromised or intentionally adversarial participants actively seeking to subvert system integrity.