A Comparative Evaluation of Trust Models in P2P Networks

Peer to Peer (P2P) networks have been widely used in recent years in various of applications such as file sharing, content distribution, and e-commerce. At the same time, there were a number of attacks on the reputation mechanisms in these P2P networks. These attacks intend to manipulate or misuse the reputation systems so that ratings on certain peers are biased or ignored. Many approaches in the academia have tried to defend against these attacks. This paper first provides a comparative study on three major trust models: Eigentrust, PeerTrust, and R ²Trust. We then propose a generalized trust model, show its parameters, and present a detailed analysis how existing approaches can be encompassed in this model. In addition we discuss issues related to existing models, and show a few potential areas for future research.