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Security of Blockchain Consensus Protocols

Authors:
Austine Onwubiko
Sarwar Sayeed
Hector Marco-Gisbert

Keywords: Blockchain; Consensus; Cyber Attack.

Abstract:
The blockchain is a decentralised technology distributing digital information through peer-to-peer, where the consensus protocol remains the most significant part ensuring the integrity of the recorded information. The consensus works as an agreement among the network nodes determining the authenticity of the network peers and also puts forward a set of rules. Nodes that do not comply with the consensus rules, fail to take part in the network activities. However, the major consensus protocols comprise severe weaknesses allowing malicious parties to conduct activities that are against the network rules. Although blockchain is based upon a sturdy structure solving many security issues, the robustness of it is still severely affected by various attack techniques. Most of the attacks were possible due to the weaknesses in the adopted consensus protocol. Many security proposals evolved to defend against the vulnerability but fully failed to minimise the attacking possibilities encouraging attackers even more to conduct such exploitation. In this research, we analyse 19 important consensus protocols that are adopted by major cryptocurrencies. We also discuss the most dreadful consensus-based attacks and major defense mechanisms. Our analysis shows that the weaknesses in the consensus protocol result in significant attacks.

Pages: 70 to 75

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2020

Publication date: October 25, 2020

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4278

ISBN: 978-1-61208-811-2

Location: Nice, France

Dates: from October 25, 2020 to October 29, 2020