Related papers: Flood & Loot: A Systemic Attack On The Lightning N…
With the ever-increasing popularity of blockchain applications, securing blockchain networks plays a critical role in these cyber systems. In this paper, we first study cyberattacks (e.g., flooding of transactions, brute pass) in blockchain…
The fundamental building blocks of the Bitcoin lightning network are bidirectional payment channels. We describe an extension of payment channels in the Proofgold network which allow the two parties to bet on whether a proposition will be…
Mining processes of Bitcoin and similar cryptocurrencies are currently incentivized with voluntary transaction fees and fixed block rewards which will halve gradually to zero. In the setting where optional and arbitrary transaction fee…
Lightning Network can execute unlimited number of off-chain payments, without incurring the cost of recording each of them in the blockchain. However, conditional payments in such networks is susceptible to Griefing Attack. In this attack,…
Although blockchains have become widely popular for their use in cryptocurrencies, they are now becoming pervasive as more traditional applications adopt blockchain to ensure data security. Despite being a secured network, blockchains have…
We focus on the problem of botnet orchestration and discuss how attackers can leverage decentralised technologies to dynamically control botnets with the goal of having botnets that are resilient against hostile takeovers. We cover critical…
The Bitcoin Lightning Network (BLN) was launched in 2018 to scale up the number of transactions between Bitcoin owners. Although several contributions concerning the analysis of the BLN binary structure have recently appeared in the…
Blockchain technology is widely used in various fields due to its ability to provide decentralization and trustless security. This is a fundamental understanding held by many advocates, but it is misunderstood, leading participants to fail…
The widespread adoption of blockchain technology has amplified the spectrum of potential threats to its integrity and security. The ongoing quest to exploit vulnerabilities emphasizes how critical it is to expand on current research…
Payment channel networks are a highly discussed approach for improving scalability of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. As they allow processing transactions off-chain, payment channel networks are referred to as second layer technology,…
Blockchain technology is affected by massive limitations in scalability with consequent repercussions on performance. This discussion aims at analyzing the state of the art of current available Layer II solutions to overcome these…
Cryptocurrencies, based on and led by Bitcoin, have shown promise as infrastructure for pseudonymous online payments, cheap remittance, trustless digital asset exchange, and smart contracts. However, Bitcoin-derived blockchain protocols…
Payment channel networks (PCNs) are a promising technology that alleviates blockchain scalability by shifting the transaction load from the blockchain to the PCN. Nevertheless, the network topology has to be carefully designed to maximise…
The Lightning Network (LN) has emerged as a second-layer solution to Bitcoin's scalability challenges. The rise of Payment Channel Networks (PCNs) and their specific mechanisms incentivize individuals to join the network for profit-making…
Bitcoin is a popular alternative to fiat money, widely used for its perceived anonymity properties. However, recent attacks on Bitcoin's peer-to-peer (P2P) network demonstrated that its gossip-based flooding protocols, which are used to…
Recently, blockchain has been applied in various fields to secure data exchanges and storage in decentralized systems. In a blockchain application where the task of the application which makes use of the data stored in a blockchain has to…
In this paper, we systematically explore the attack surface of the Blockchain technology, with an emphasis on public Blockchains. Towards this goal, we attribute attack viability in the attack surface to 1) the Blockchain cryptographic…
To improve transaction rates, many cryptocurrencies have implemented so-called ''Layer-2'' transaction protocols, where payments are routed across networks of private payment channels. However, for a given transaction, not every network…
Blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum execute payment transactions securely, but their performance is limited by the need for global consensus. Payment networks overcome this limitation through off-chain transactions. Instead of writing…
Strategies related to the blockchain concept of Extractable Value (MEV/BEV), such as arbitrage, front-, or back-running create strong economic incentives for network nodes to reduce latency. Modified nodes, that minimize transaction…