IOTA is a distributed ledger technology that relies on a peer-to-peer (P2P) network for communications. Recently an auto-peering algorithm was proposed to build connections among IOTA peers according to their "Mana" endowment, which is an IOTA internal reputation system. This paper's goal is to detect potential vulnerabilities and evaluate the resilience of the P2P network generated using IOTA auto-peering algorithm against eclipse attacks. In order to do so, we interpret IOTA's auto-peering algorithm as a random network formation model and employ different network metrics to identify cost-efficient partitions of the network. As a result, we present a potential strategy that an attacker can use to eclipse a significant part of the network, providing estimates of costs and potential damage caused by the attack. On the side, we provide an analysis of the properties of IOTA auto-peering network ensemble, as an interesting class of homophile random networks in between 1D lattices and regular Poisson graphs.

翻译：IOTA是一种依赖点对点（P2P）网络进行通信的分布式账本技术。近期，研究者提出了一种根据IOTA内部声誉系统“Mana” endowment进行节点间连接建立的自动对等算法。本文旨在检测该算法生成的P2P网络可能存在的漏洞，并评估其抵御日蚀攻击的韧性。为此，我们将IOTA自动对等算法解释为一种随机网络形成模型，并采用多种网络指标来识别网络中成本最优的划分方式。基于此，我们提出了一种攻击者可能采用的策略，该策略能够隔离网络中的大部分节点，同时估算攻击成本及其潜在损害。此外，我们分析了IOTA自动对等网络的整体特性，该网络作为介于一维晶格与规则泊松图之间的一类有趣同质随机网络，其性质亦得到了阐释。