RepuNet: A Reputation System for Mitigating Malicious Clients in DFL

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Penalva, Isaac Marroqui, Beltrán, Enrique Tomás Martínez, Pérez, Manuel Gil, Celdrán, Alberto Huertas
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Penalva, Isaac Marroqui
Beltrán, Enrique Tomás Martínez
Pérez, Manuel Gil
Celdrán, Alberto Huertas
author_facet Penalva, Isaac Marroqui
Beltrán, Enrique Tomás Martínez
Pérez, Manuel Gil
Celdrán, Alberto Huertas
contents Decentralized Federated Learning (DFL) enables nodes to collaboratively train models without a central server, introducing new vulnerabilities since each node independently selects peers for model aggregation. Malicious nodes may exploit this autonomy by sending corrupted models (model poisoning), delaying model submissions (delay attack), or flooding the network with excessive messages, negatively affecting system performance. Existing solutions often depend on rigid configurations or additional infrastructures such as blockchain, leading to computational overhead, scalability issues, or limited adaptability. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes RepuNet, a decentralized reputation system that categorizes threats in DFL and dynamically evaluates node behavior using metrics like model similarity, parameter changes, message latency, and communication volume. Nodes' influence in model aggregation is adjusted based on their reputation scores. RepuNet was integrated into the Nebula DFL platform and experimentally evaluated with MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets under non-IID distributions, using federations of up to 25 nodes in both fully connected and random topologies. Different attack intensities, frequencies, and activation intervals were tested. Results demonstrated that RepuNet effectively detects and mitigates malicious behavior, achieving F1 scores above 95% for MNIST scenarios and approximately 76% for CIFAR-10 cases. These outcomes highlight RepuNet's adaptability, robustness, and practical potential for mitigating threats in decentralized federated learning environments.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2506_19892
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle RepuNet: A Reputation System for Mitigating Malicious Clients in DFL
Penalva, Isaac Marroqui
Beltrán, Enrique Tomás Martínez
Pérez, Manuel Gil
Celdrán, Alberto Huertas
Cryptography and Security
Artificial Intelligence
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Machine Learning
Performance
Decentralized Federated Learning (DFL) enables nodes to collaboratively train models without a central server, introducing new vulnerabilities since each node independently selects peers for model aggregation. Malicious nodes may exploit this autonomy by sending corrupted models (model poisoning), delaying model submissions (delay attack), or flooding the network with excessive messages, negatively affecting system performance. Existing solutions often depend on rigid configurations or additional infrastructures such as blockchain, leading to computational overhead, scalability issues, or limited adaptability. To overcome these limitations, this paper proposes RepuNet, a decentralized reputation system that categorizes threats in DFL and dynamically evaluates node behavior using metrics like model similarity, parameter changes, message latency, and communication volume. Nodes' influence in model aggregation is adjusted based on their reputation scores. RepuNet was integrated into the Nebula DFL platform and experimentally evaluated with MNIST and CIFAR-10 datasets under non-IID distributions, using federations of up to 25 nodes in both fully connected and random topologies. Different attack intensities, frequencies, and activation intervals were tested. Results demonstrated that RepuNet effectively detects and mitigates malicious behavior, achieving F1 scores above 95% for MNIST scenarios and approximately 76% for CIFAR-10 cases. These outcomes highlight RepuNet's adaptability, robustness, and practical potential for mitigating threats in decentralized federated learning environments.
title RepuNet: A Reputation System for Mitigating Malicious Clients in DFL
topic Cryptography and Security
Artificial Intelligence
Distributed, Parallel, and Cluster Computing
Machine Learning
Performance
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2506.19892