EBA: 51% Attack Remains Bitcoin's Biggest Problem
Bitcoin's biggest problem is still the threat of a 51% attack, according to Dr Dirk Haubrich, head of consumer protection and financial innovation at the European Banking Authority (EBA). He said his main concern about the widespread adoption of bitcoin is the risk of a 51% attack, where a single entity contributes the majority of the network's mining hashrate and, thus, gains full control of the network and can manipulate the blockchain. Haubrich made these comments on Friday at an event titled Controlling Cryptocurrencies at the University of Birmingham in the UK. He said he had spoken....
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BTC-e was down briefly on Sunday, following a powerful distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack against its servers. DDoS attacks against bitcoin exchanges have gained notoriety since the 'massive and concerted' attack which targeted multiple organisations earlier this year. However, in the current climate of uncertainty even a harmless attack can be misinterpreted, with speculation spreading like wildfire on social media. Luckily BTC-e was quick to confirm the attack and dismiss fears - it was just another DDoS attack, now all too common in the world of bitcoin. DDoS attack on our....
There has been a lot of focus on what has been happening to The DAO. But it looks like the Slock.it team is planning a counter-attack. A plan of action is on the table as this situation needs to be addressed sooner rather than later. Over the past few days, two separate attacks have plagued The DAO. The first attack saw over 3 million ETH being drained....
For the past several days*, the Bitcoin network has been plagued by a so-called "transaction malleability attack." Bitcoin users have experienced a number of annoyances, causing confusion and frustration. And while the transaction malleability issue is well-known and has plagued the Bitcoin network before, to many it is still unclear what it is, why it is a problem, who is causing the attack right now, and what can be done about it. *According to the claimed attacker (see below), the attack is currently paused at the time of writing, but could and probably will be continued at any time.....
Over the past 72 hours, the Bitcoin protocol has been suffering from a malleability attack. The attack has been happening to quite a few users moving funds on the network. The transactions look like bitcoin being sent twice or “double spent.” Typically the real action gets confirmed by the network, and the misleading output disappears on most wallets. The attack has been said to be safe but rather a “nuisance”. Over the past couple of months, the network has had similar malleability or spam attacks hitting the network and affecting confirmations. The cryptocurrency community has been aware....
A paper released yesterday by researchers Ittay Eyal and Emin Gun Sirer at Cornell University suggested a subtle new way in which the bitcoin mining network could be vulnerable to a form of economic attack called 'Selfish Mining'. Gavin Andresen, the lead developer of Bitcoin, was quick to dismiss the paper and its contents. Executive summary of Cornell paper: not a big deal even assuming their analysis is correct (I'm not yet convinced). - Gavin Andresen (@gavinandresen) November 5, 2013. Although a similar attack called the 'Mining Cartel Attack' was proposed as early as 2010, the new....