Reputation-Based Trust Management in Peer-to-Peer Systems: Taxonomy and Anatomy

Trust is required in file sharing peer-to-peer (P2P) systems to achieve better cooperation among peers and reduce malicious uploads. In reputation-based P2P systems, reputation is used to build trust among peers based on their past transactions and feedbacks from other peers. In these systems, reputable peers will usually be selected to upload requested files, decreasing significantly malicious uploads in the system. This chapter surveys different reputation-based P2P systems. We will breakdown a typical reputation system into functional components. We will discuss each component and present proposed solutions from the literature. Different reputation-based systems will be described and analyzed. Each system presents a particular perspective in addressing peers’ reputation.