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Some suggested reading on the subject. I wrote a paper "Eclipse Attacks on Bitcoin’s Peer-to-Peer Network" [0] about maliciously partitioning the Bitcoin netwo

Some suggested reading on the subject. I wrote a paper "Eclipse Attacks on Bitcoin’s Peer-to-Peer Network" [0] about maliciously partitioning the Bitcoin network. Much of the paper focuses on how to partition the network, but Section 1.1 Implications of eclipse attacks should give a good sense for how Bitcoin's security properties depend on the network not being partitioned. "Hijacking Bitcoin: Routing Attacks on Cryptocurrencies" [1] also discusses network partitions and Bitcoin. As with Eclipse Attacks it focuses on both the how and the effects. Interestingly blockchains built on Algorand [2] would not fork under a network partition they would just cease to create new blocks until the network is whole again. [0]: "Eclipse Attacks on Bitcoin’s Peer-to-Peer Network" https://www.usenix.org/node/190891 https://www.usenix.org/node/190891 [1]: "Hijacking Bitcoin: Routing Attacks on Cryptocurrencies" https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.07524 https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.07524 [2]: "Algorand: Scaling Byzantine Agreements for Cryptocurrencies" https://people.csail.mit.edu/nickolai/papers/gilad-algorand-eprint.pdf https://people.csail.mit.edu/nickolai/papers/gilad-algorand-...

stale2002 9y ago
Is an eclipse attack really realistic? The issue is that bitcoin isn't really a 100% peer to peer network. There are nodes that exist, such as the big mining nodes, that I can be pretty darn sure are honest nodes. And the big miners all know each other on a first name basis. So it is not like you are going to be able to split them off of the network from each other.
- deleted 9y ago
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- EthanHeilman 9y ago
  The question we wanted to answer with the paper how much security against Eclipse attacks does the P2P network provide and how could it provide more security? >There are nodes that exist, such as the big mining nodes, that I can be pretty darn sure are honest nodes. Ghash.io the largest Bitcoin mining pool at the time performed mining attacks to steal money from Satoshi dice and at one point had more than 50% of the mining power. I would not trust a node just because a big miner is running it. >And the big miners all know each other on a first name basis. So it is not like you are going to be able to split them off of the network from each other. If all the big miners use a special network for block propagation, and they do, that network may go down or be compromised by malicious parties. The P2P network provides back up in the event that this takes place. Miners might be on a first name basis with each other but they are also competitors with each other. Bitcoin should not require that the Miners trust each other. Many Bitcoin users are not Miners and so they would still be vulnerable to Eclipse attacks.

stale2002 9y ago

Is an eclipse attack really realistic? The issue is that bitcoin isn't really a 100% peer to peer network. There are nodes that exist, such as the big mining nodes, that I can be pretty darn sure are honest nodes. And the big miners all know each other on a first name basis. So it is not like you are going to be able to split them off of the network from each other.

deleted 9y ago
[deleted]
EthanHeilman 9y ago
The question we wanted to answer with the paper how much security against Eclipse attacks does the P2P network provide and how could it provide more security? >There are nodes that exist, such as the big mining nodes, that I can be pretty darn sure are honest nodes. Ghash.io the largest Bitcoin mining pool at the time performed mining attacks to steal money from Satoshi dice and at one point had more than 50% of the mining power. I would not trust a node just because a big miner is running it. >And the big miners all know each other on a first name basis. So it is not like you are going to be able to split them off of the network from each other. If all the big miners use a special network for block propagation, and they do, that network may go down or be compromised by malicious parties. The P2P network provides back up in the event that this takes place. Miners might be on a first name basis with each other but they are also competitors with each other. Bitcoin should not require that the Miners trust each other. Many Bitcoin users are not Miners and so they would still be vulnerable to Eclipse attacks.