6,823 research outputs found
Bitcoin Transaction Malleability and MtGox
In Bitcoin, transaction malleability describes the fact that the signatures
that prove the ownership of bitcoins being transferred in a transaction do not
provide any integrity guarantee for the signatures themselves. This allows an
attacker to mount a malleability attack in which it intercepts, modifies, and
rebroadcasts a transaction, causing the transaction issuer to believe that the
original transaction was not confirmed. In February 2014 MtGox, once the
largest Bitcoin exchange, closed and filed for bankruptcy claiming that
attackers used malleability attacks to drain its accounts. In this work we use
traces of the Bitcoin network for over a year preceding the filing to show
that, while the problem is real, there was no widespread use of malleability
attacks before the closure of MtGox
Quantum attacks on Bitcoin, and how to protect against them
The key cryptographic protocols used to secure the internet and financial
transactions of today are all susceptible to attack by the development of a
sufficiently large quantum computer. One particular area at risk are
cryptocurrencies, a market currently worth over 150 billion USD. We investigate
the risk of Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, to attacks by quantum
computers. We find that the proof-of-work used by Bitcoin is relatively
resistant to substantial speedup by quantum computers in the next 10 years,
mainly because specialized ASIC miners are extremely fast compared to the
estimated clock speed of near-term quantum computers. On the other hand, the
elliptic curve signature scheme used by Bitcoin is much more at risk, and could
be completely broken by a quantum computer as early as 2027, by the most
optimistic estimates. We analyze an alternative proof-of-work called Momentum,
based on finding collisions in a hash function, that is even more resistant to
speedup by a quantum computer. We also review the available post-quantum
signature schemes to see which one would best meet the security and efficiency
requirements of blockchain applications.Comment: 21 pages, 6 figures. For a rough update on the progress of Quantum
devices and prognostications on time from now to break Digital signatures,
see https://www.quantumcryptopocalypse.com/quantum-moores-law
Attacks on quantum key distribution protocols that employ non-ITS authentication
We demonstrate how adversaries with unbounded computing resources can break
Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) protocols which employ a particular message
authentication code suggested previously. This authentication code, featuring
low key consumption, is not Information-Theoretically Secure (ITS) since for
each message the eavesdropper has intercepted she is able to send a different
message from a set of messages that she can calculate by finding collisions of
a cryptographic hash function. However, when this authentication code was
introduced it was shown to prevent straightforward Man-In-The-Middle (MITM)
attacks against QKD protocols.
In this paper, we prove that the set of messages that collide with any given
message under this authentication code contains with high probability a message
that has small Hamming distance to any other given message. Based on this fact
we present extended MITM attacks against different versions of BB84 QKD
protocols using the addressed authentication code; for three protocols we
describe every single action taken by the adversary. For all protocols the
adversary can obtain complete knowledge of the key, and for most protocols her
success probability in doing so approaches unity.
Since the attacks work against all authentication methods which allow to
calculate colliding messages, the underlying building blocks of the presented
attacks expose the potential pitfalls arising as a consequence of non-ITS
authentication in QKD-postprocessing. We propose countermeasures, increasing
the eavesdroppers demand for computational power, and also prove necessary and
sufficient conditions for upgrading the discussed authentication code to the
ITS level.Comment: 34 page
JaxNet: Scalable Blockchain Network
Today's world is organized based on merit and value. A single global currency
that's decentralized is needed for a global economy. Bitcoin is a partial
solution to this need, however it suffers from scalability problems which
prevent it from being mass-adopted. Also, the deflationary nature of bitcoin
motivates people to hoard and speculate on them instead of using them for day
to day transactions. We propose a scalable, decentralized cryptocurrency that
is based on Proof of Work.The solution involves having parallel chains in a
closed network using a mechanism which rewards miners proportional to their
effort in maintaining the network.The proposed design introduces a novel
approach for solving scalability problem in blockchain network based on merged
mining.Comment: 55 pages. 10 figure
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