# kaal:claim:3782210-008

**Claim.** A Web of Trust style reputation ledger, in which each party rates each transaction and reputation is summed with weightings by rater reputation, will have all of its value drained by the sockpuppet attack, because an attacker can build reputation through transactions between their own fake accounts and then use it to cheat.

**Type.** failure  **Support.** argued

**Holds when.**

- open networks that permit account creation
- self-reported transaction ratings

**Source quote.**

> Unfortunately, the sockpuppet attack will suck all value from the network. Setting up fake accounts, an attacker can build their reputation by making transactions be- tween their own accounts. Once their reputation is sufficiently large to trick a mem- ber, they can use it to cheat the system.

**From.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, *The Importance of Reputation for the Evolution of Decentralization* (2021), Web of Trust, page 4

**Cite as.** Craig Calcaterra, Wulf A. Kaal, The Importance of Reputation for the Evolution of Decentralization (2021). SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3782210

**Verify.** sha256 of source PDF `9cc531ab239f6266c8aeddcc8e54f4c06029c44e825444bee137bbcc0c9d0a8e` at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/wulfkaal/Academic-Papers/main/papers/pdf/Calcaterra%20and%20Kaal%20-%202021%20-%20The%20Importance%20of%20Reputation%20for%20the%20Evolution%20of%20Decentralization.pdf

**Failure mode.** Sockpuppet attack  (family: sybil-and-identity-attack)

**Topics.** consensus-and-security, reputation, regulatory-failure

**Keywords.** sockpuppet-attack, web-of-trust, reputation-gaming, security

**Related claims.**

- extends: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3266953-028
- specializes: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3266953-032
- restates: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3266953-033
- restates: https://wulfkaal.github.io/claims/3266953-031

**Canonical form.** This markdown file is the canonical hashed representation of the claim. Its sha256 is the content hash used for attestation.