PROTECT-DB: Protecting Data using Replicated State Machines: Efficient Corruption Detection & Recovery

TL;DR

This paper presents PROTECT-DB, a practical system using Byzantine fault-tolerant replicated state machines on PostgreSQL to efficiently detect and recover from data corruption.

Contribution

It introduces a deterministic extension of PostgreSQL with BFT replicated state machines for rapid corruption detection and repair, demonstrating practical efficiency.

Findings

System achieves quick corruption detection and recovery.

Performance study confirms efficiency and practicality.

Framework lays foundation for BFT databases.

Abstract

Data is critical for the operation of any organization and needs to be protected, especially against attacks that compromise the state of the database. In this paper, we explore an approach based on Byzantine-fault tolerant replicated state machines, built on top of a deterministic extension of PostgreSQL. Each replica deterministically executes transactions recorded in a shared log/blockchain. Our focus is on creating a practical system that is designed for efficient and quick detection of corruption, as well as quick repair concurrent with execution of transactions. We also present a performance study showing the efficiency and practicality of our approach. We believe our work lays the foundations for the practical use of the BFT replicated state machine approach in the context of databases.