I have decided to go ahead and choose the topic of security of peer to peer systems because currently as I am writing this paper, I am using several peer to peer systems. I want to analyze the many risks involved when using a peer to peer system, whether it is the actual sharing of system resources and files between people, or the security of actual privacy when using these peer to peer systems. Besides the obvious peer to peer systems such and Gnutella, LimeWire, and Kazaa, I�m going to be looking at a relatively new form of peer to peer system known as BitTorrent. I will also provide an in-depth analyzation of these systems, along with the possibilities of building useful and working techniques to protect one self when it comes to security and privacy.
I plan to go further in depth with the new BitTorrent technology. This form of peer to peer network is by far the most popular with so called �illegal� file sharing. BitTorrent has made its leaps and bounds around law because of the way it�s used. BitTorrent users first search normal internet webpages for a torrent file, which directs them to the �network� sharing the files. I also plan to explain how each of these different kinds of peer to peer networks work, with their advantages and disadvantages.
Part of my research project will be reflecting on the attacks used on peer to peer networks, and how each individual form of attack affects how a peer to peer system works. These attacks include; but are not limited to:
(Taken from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peer-to-peer#Attacks_on_peer-to-peer_networks) � poisoning attacks (e.g. providing files whose contents are different from the description) � polluting attacks (e.g. inserting "bad" chunks/packets into an otherwise valid file on the network) � defection attacks (users or software that make use of the network without contributing resources to it) � insertion of viruses to carried data (e.g. downloaded or carried files may be infected with viruses or other malware) � malware in the peer-to-peer network software itself (e.g. distributed software may contain spyware) � denial of service attacks (attacks that may make the network run very slowly or break completely) � filtering (network operators may attempt to prevent peer-to-peer network data from being carried) � identity attacks (e.g. tracking down the users of the network and harassing or legally attacking them) � spamming (e.g. sending unsolicited information across the network- not necessarily as a denial of service attack)