PoW Blockchains Could Be Vulnerable to Balance Attack
According to researchers, Bitcoin and Ethereum blockchains are vulnerable to Balance Attack, which encourages double spend and disrupts persistence of blockchain. The Proof of Work blockchains may have an Achilles Heel that makes them vulnerable to a “Balance Attack.” A group of researchers from the University of Sydney has published a paper offering details about this new type of attack. The Balance Attack targets the nodes with balanced mining power. By delaying the network communication between a subgroup of nodes, the attack forces double spend on proof of work blockchains like that of....
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Krypton, Ethereum-based network, has recently recovered from a 2-step attack which resulted in a total of 21,465 KR, approximately $3000 USD, being stolen from Bittrex’s wallets. The Krypton team suspects that the attack might have been just a test: attackers might go for other Ethereum-based blockchains such as ETC, for example. How the attack happened. According to a press release by Stephanie Kent, Krypton’s Founder, and Rocky, cryptocurrency trader, investor and analyst, attackers used Double-Spending to steal the KR from Bittrex. After the attack, all deposits and withdrawals on both....
A series of attacks compromised several Binance Smart Chain (BSC) projects in May. Following PancakeBunny, its three forks projects — AutoShark, Merlin Labs, and PancakeHunny — were also attacked using similar techniques. PancakeBunny suffered the most costly attack of the four, which saw nearly $45M in total damages. In this article, Dr. Chiachih Wu, Head of the Amber Group Blockchain Security Team, elaborates on the details behind the attacks on the three copycats. Copycats AutoShark was attacked five days after PancakeBunny, followed by Merlin Labs and PancakeHunny,....
Small blockchains/coins are being targeted by a novel 51% attack that is holding these fledgling cryptos infrastructures hostage. Extorting Blockchains via 51% Attack. The attackers, calling themselves the “51 crew” are overpowering small blockchains with more hashing power and by DDoSing other nodes. It seems as though the attackers are specifically targeting Ethereum-based blockchains as the cryptocurrencies, Krypton (KR) and Shift, both Ethereum type coins, were threatened with a hack if they didn’t pay a ransom to the attackers. Before these cryptos were hacked, the group of attackers....
An accessible, in-depth look at what's really at risk when Proof-of-Work or Proof-of-Stake blockchains suffer the dreaded 51% attack.
The Casascius coin was shown to be vulnerable to physical attack at this year's Defcon conference, one of the world's largest hacker conventions. Casascius coins are one form of physical bitcoin, being supplied in denominations of 0.5, 1 and 25 BTC. The coins each have a private key printed on them, concealed by a holographic sticker. The Defcon hackers were able to reveal the key and replace the stick with virtually no sign of tampering. The private key on each Casascius coin relates to the bitcoin address that holds the value of the coin. The implication of having access to this coin is....