Editing Peer-to-peer (section)

====Corrupted data and malware====
{{See also|Data validation|Malware}}
The prevalence of [[malware]] varies between different peer-to-peer protocols.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Malware Propagation Modelling in Peer-to-Peer Networks: A Review |url=https://bradscholars.brad.ac.uk/bitstream/handle/10454/16651/Malware%20Propagation%20Modelling%20in%20Peer%20to%20Peer%20Networks.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y}}</ref> Studies analyzing the spread of malware on P2P networks found, for example, that 63% of the answered download requests on the [[gnutella]] network contained some form of malware, whereas only 3% of the content on [[OpenFT]] contained malware. In both cases, the top three most common types of malware accounted for the large majority of cases (99% in gnutella, and 65% in OpenFT). Another study analyzing traffic on the [[Kazaa]] network found that 15% of the 500,000 file sample taken were infected by one or more of the 365 different [[computer viruses]] that were tested for.<ref>{{cite book |last=Goebel |first=Jan |chapter=Measurement and Analysis of Autonomous Spreading Malware in a University Environment |editor-last=Hämmerli |editor-first=Bernhard Markus |editor2-last=Sommer |editor2-first=Robin |title=Detection of Intrusions and Malware, and Vulnerability Assessment: 4th International Conference, DIMVA 2007 Lucerne, Switzerland, July 12-13, 2007 Proceedings |publisher=Springer |year=2007 |isbn=9783540736134 |page=112 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M0PfEaVa9QIC&pg=PA112 |display-authors=etal}}</ref>

Corrupted data can also be distributed on P2P networks by modifying files that are already being shared on the network. For example, on the [[FastTrack]] network, the [[RIAA]] managed to introduce faked chunks into downloads and downloaded files (mostly [[MP3]] files). Files infected with the RIAA virus were unusable afterwards and contained malicious code. The RIAA is also known to have uploaded fake music and movies to P2P networks in order to deter illegal file sharing.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/04/business/04MUSI.html |title=Software Bullet Is Sought to Kill Musical Piracy |last=Sorkin |first=Andrew Ross |date=4 May 2003 |newspaper=New York Times |access-date=5 November 2011}}</ref> Consequently, the P2P networks of today have seen an enormous increase of their security and file verification mechanisms. Modern [[hash chain|hashing]], [[File verification|chunk verification]] and different encryption methods have made most networks resistant to almost any type of attack, even when major parts of the respective network have been replaced by faked or nonfunctional hosts.<ref>{{cite tech report |first=Vivek |last=Singh |first2=Himani |last2=Gupta |title= Anonymous File Sharing in Peer to Peer System by Random Walks |number=123456789/9306 |institution=SRM University |year=2012 }}</ref>