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How resilient is the XRP Ledger to targeted network attacks? New research involving Carnegie Mellon University and NOVA researchers uses simulations to examine how XRPL's network topology and ability to maintain quorum respond to targeted node failures. Here is what they found. The 80% Quorum Requirement XRPL nodes rely on trusted validator sets and require at least 80% agreement to reach consensus. The researchers focus on a different attack surface: disrupting the network connecting validators rather than attacking the validators themselves. If enough validators become separated from one another that fewer than 80% remain connected, consensus can halt. Targeted Attacks XRPL has shown strong resilience against random node failures. Targeted attacks are different. Prior research cited in the paper found that selectively removing highly connected nodes could compromise network and quorum robustness with dramatically fewer failures than random removal. This study models attacks against two particularly important types of nodes: • High-degree nodes with large numbers of connections • High-betweenness nodes that sit along many network communication paths The simulations progressively remove these nodes and measure when the network fragments or loses enough validator connectivity to maintain quorum. The Proposed Fix: More Connections The strongest mitigation tested was surprisingly simple: random K-out augmentation, where participating nodes establish a small number of additional random peer connections. With only 60% of nodes participating and two additional random connections per participating node, the simulated attack size required to break quorum increased: • 11% → 38% under high-degree attacks • 12% → 33% under high-betweenness attacks Network-fragmentation resilience also increased from 19% → 35% and 18% → 34%, respectively. At higher participation levels, adding around three random connections per node could match or exceed the robustness achieved through substantially more extensive network rewiring. The Takeaway This is simulation research, not evidence that the live XRP Ledger is currently failing. The study uses XRPL topology data collected in 2022, models validator placement because the dataset did not identify validator nodes, and assumes validators themselves cannot be directly targeted. The significance is preventative. The research identifies a potential infrastructure-level weakness under targeted attack models and shows that relatively small changes to peer connectivity could materially improve XRPL's resilience without redesigning the network. ripple:native ethereum:0x8292bb45bf1ee4d140127049757c2e0ff06317ed Read the full academic paper on arXiv below.