Internet
sybil attack
What does sybil attack mean?
An attack where one entity spins up numerous fake identities or wallets to gain outsized influence over a network, or to farm rewards like airdrops multiple times.
"They filtered out sybil attackers who used hundreds of wallets to farm the airdrop."
Origin
Named after the book 'Sybil' about multiple personalities; a classic distributed-systems attack.
Frequently asked questions
What is a sybil attack?
It is when one entity spins up many fake identities or wallets to gain outsized influence over a network or to farm rewards like airdrops multiple times.
Where does the name sybil attack come from?
It is named after the book 'Sybil' about a woman with multiple personalities, reflecting one actor pretending to be many.
How do projects prevent sybil attacks?
They use sybil filtering, analysing wallet behaviour and on-chain activity to detect and exclude clusters of fake accounts, especially in airdrops.
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