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Author: Christian Decker Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781530769452 Category : Languages : en Pages : 196
Book Description
Since its inception in late 2008, Bitcoin has enjoyed a rapid growth, both in value and in the number of transactions. Its success is mostly due to innovative use of a peer-to-peer network to implement all aspects of a currency's lifecycle - from creation to its transfer between users. Bitcoin offers cash-like transactions that are near-instantaneous and non-refundable, while at the same time allowing truly global transactions, processed at the same speed as local ones. It offers a public transaction history, enabling trustless auditability, and it introduces many new and innovative use-cases such as smart property, micropayments, contracts, and escrow transactions for dispute mediation. However, the same features that make Bitcoin attractive for its end-users are also its main limitations. Its decentralized nature limits the number of transactions and the speed at which transactions can be performed and confirmed. The problem with the slow confirmations is compounded with the semantics of the confirmations which are not final, requiring multiple confirmations and further delaying acceptance of a transaction. In the first part of the thesis we analyze whether the current Bitcoin protocol scales and what the scalability limits are. We find that Bitcoin does not scale, because its synchronization mechanism, the blockchain, limits the maximum rate of transactions the network can process. In order to address the scalability problem we propose Duplex Micropayment Channels, which increase the rate at which Bitcoin transfers can be performed by several orders of magnitude, by moving the transfers off the blockchain and using the blockchain solely for dispute mediation. Another form of scalability problem is the fact that more and more blockchain based applications are being created, eachwith their own small isolated blockchain, and vulnerable to attacks. We present PeerCensus, a subsystem that acts as a certification authority, manages peer identities in a peer-to-peer network and does not store application specific data in the blockchain. Using PeerCensus, any number of applications can share a single blockchain, decoupling confirmations from block generation rate and enhancing Bitcoin and similar systems with strong consistency. Being a relatively new technology, Bitcoin has a number of new security challenges and innovative properties. We analyze these properties and challenges in the second part of the thesis. The first novel property is that the transaction history, in the form of the blockchain, is public and accessible by anyone. Making use of the open nature of the blockchain, we were able to dispell claims by MtGox, once the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, that a bug in the Bitcoin protocol was used in a large scale attack to defraud them. We then use the blockchain to build a prototype of an audit protocol that allows a fiduciary, such as a Bitcoin exchange, to demonstrate that its assets cover its liabilities, without resorting to trusted third parties. Bitcoin also shifts the responsibility of managing and securing funds from a trusted third party to the end-user, which may not have the necessary tools to protect her funds. We show how a merchant may accept fast-payments, i.e., transactions without waiting for confirmations, with reasonable security against doublespending attacks by observing how transactions propagate in the network. Finally, we present a prototype of a secure device that stores private keys in tamper resitant storage and allows the user to independently verify a payment before authorizing it.
Author: Christian Decker Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN: 9781530769452 Category : Languages : en Pages : 196
Book Description
Since its inception in late 2008, Bitcoin has enjoyed a rapid growth, both in value and in the number of transactions. Its success is mostly due to innovative use of a peer-to-peer network to implement all aspects of a currency's lifecycle - from creation to its transfer between users. Bitcoin offers cash-like transactions that are near-instantaneous and non-refundable, while at the same time allowing truly global transactions, processed at the same speed as local ones. It offers a public transaction history, enabling trustless auditability, and it introduces many new and innovative use-cases such as smart property, micropayments, contracts, and escrow transactions for dispute mediation. However, the same features that make Bitcoin attractive for its end-users are also its main limitations. Its decentralized nature limits the number of transactions and the speed at which transactions can be performed and confirmed. The problem with the slow confirmations is compounded with the semantics of the confirmations which are not final, requiring multiple confirmations and further delaying acceptance of a transaction. In the first part of the thesis we analyze whether the current Bitcoin protocol scales and what the scalability limits are. We find that Bitcoin does not scale, because its synchronization mechanism, the blockchain, limits the maximum rate of transactions the network can process. In order to address the scalability problem we propose Duplex Micropayment Channels, which increase the rate at which Bitcoin transfers can be performed by several orders of magnitude, by moving the transfers off the blockchain and using the blockchain solely for dispute mediation. Another form of scalability problem is the fact that more and more blockchain based applications are being created, eachwith their own small isolated blockchain, and vulnerable to attacks. We present PeerCensus, a subsystem that acts as a certification authority, manages peer identities in a peer-to-peer network and does not store application specific data in the blockchain. Using PeerCensus, any number of applications can share a single blockchain, decoupling confirmations from block generation rate and enhancing Bitcoin and similar systems with strong consistency. Being a relatively new technology, Bitcoin has a number of new security challenges and innovative properties. We analyze these properties and challenges in the second part of the thesis. The first novel property is that the transaction history, in the form of the blockchain, is public and accessible by anyone. Making use of the open nature of the blockchain, we were able to dispell claims by MtGox, once the world's largest Bitcoin exchange, that a bug in the Bitcoin protocol was used in a large scale attack to defraud them. We then use the blockchain to build a prototype of an audit protocol that allows a fiduciary, such as a Bitcoin exchange, to demonstrate that its assets cover its liabilities, without resorting to trusted third parties. Bitcoin also shifts the responsibility of managing and securing funds from a trusted third party to the end-user, which may not have the necessary tools to protect her funds. We show how a merchant may accept fast-payments, i.e., transactions without waiting for confirmations, with reasonable security against doublespending attacks by observing how transactions propagate in the network. Finally, we present a prototype of a secure device that stores private keys in tamper resitant storage and allows the user to independently verify a payment before authorizing it.
Author: Ghassan O. Karame Publisher: Artech House ISBN: 1630814334 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 233
Book Description
There is a lot of buzz about Bitcoin and Blockchain lately, our expert authors will help to answer some imperative questions about the security involved in this new digital asset and ledger. This comprehensive new resource presents a thorough overview and analysis of the security and privacy provisions of Bitcoin and its underlying blockchain clients. This book goes beyond the analysis of reported vulnerabilities of Bitcoin, evaluating a number of countermeasures to deter threats on the system. Readers are given concrete solutions and recommendations on the best practices to use when relying on Bitcoin as a payment method. This resource provides a clear explanation of assumptions governing the security of Bitcoin, including the scalability measures adopted in Bitcoin, privacy for clients, and the proper means of securing Bitcoin wallets. Readers learn how the security and privacy provisions of other blockchain technologies compare to Bitcoin and the security lessons learned after extensive research of Bitcoin since the inception of the currency.
Author: Edgar Weippl Publisher: ISBN: 9781450341394 Category : Languages : en Pages :
Book Description
CCS'16: 2016 ACM SIGSAC Conference on Computer and Communications Security Oct 24, 2016-Oct 28, 2016 Vienna, Austria. You can view more information about this proceeding and all of ACM�s other published conference proceedings from the ACM Digital Library: http://www.acm.org/dl.
Author: Saravanan Krishnan Publisher: Academic Press ISBN: 012820415X Category : Science Languages : en Pages : 478
Book Description
Handbook of Research on Blockchain Technology presents the latest information on the adaptation and implementation of Blockchain technologies in real world business, scientific, healthcare and biomedical applications. The book's editors present the rapid advancements in existing business models by applying Blockchain techniques. Novel architectural solutions in the deployment of Blockchain comprise the core aspects of this book. Several use cases with IoT, biomedical engineering, and smart cities are also incorporated. As Blockchain is a relatively new technology that exploits decentralized networks and is used in many sectors for reliable, cost-effective and rapid business transactions, this book is a welcomed addition on existing knowledge. Financial services, retail, insurance, logistics, supply chain, public sectors and biomedical industries are now investing in Blockchain research and technologies for their business growth. Blockchain prevents double spending in financial transactions without the need of a trusted authority or central server. It is a decentralized ledger platform that facilitates verifiable transactions between parties in a secure and smart way. - Presents the evolution of blockchain, from fundamental theories, to present forms - Explains the concepts of blockchain related to cloud/edge computing, smart healthcare, smart cities and Internet of Things (IoT) - Provides complete coverage of the various tools, platforms and techniques used in blockchain - Explores smart contract tools and consensus algorithms - Covers a variety of applications with real world case studies in areas such as biomedical engineering, supply chain management, and tracking of goods and delivery
Author: Zibin Zheng Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 9819910595 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 243
Book Description
This book focuses on conducting a comprehensive analysis of blockchain scalability serving large-scale application scenarios, from the “what, why, how” three perspectives, layer by layer. Gathering the latest state-of-the-art research advances in the area of key issues and technologies for blockchain scalability, it also presents some special and exciting insights on the existing and future blockchain scalability. Despite blockchain’s merits of decentralization, immutability, non-repudiation, and traceability, the current blockchain has faced a serious scalability bottleneck. The scalability bottleneck problem is mainly manifested in two aspects: low-performance efficiency and difficulty in functional extension. First, the security and reliability of the blockchain system come from the fact that most nodes of the whole network participate in a distributed consensus to maintain the ledger. The high-cost consensus mechanism makes limited performance of blockchain, and there is a big gap between the actual large-scale application system. In addition, in order to ensure the security of a single blockchain system, data between different blockchain systems are relatively isolated, making it difficult for assets and data to interact. This book explores the scalability of blockchain in depth, proposes meaningful approaches to the problems mentioned above, and builds an original theoretical system of blockchain scalability. It describes the root of blockchain scalability problems, mainstream blockchain performance, the classification of existing scalability problem solutions, and some exciting sharding-based approaches. It also includes open issues and future directions to scale blockchain for complex practical application scenarios. As such, this book will be a valuable resource for students, researchers, engineers, and policymakers working in various areas related to blockchain scalability, which is also of great significance for understanding and solving the bottleneck of blockchain scalability and realizing the practical large-scale commercial application of blockchain.
Author: Ben Mnaouer, Adel Publisher: IGI Global ISBN: 1799858413 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 339
Book Description
In recent years, the surge of blockchain technology has been rising due to is proven reliability in ensuring secure and effective transactions, even between untrusted parties. Its application is broad and covers public and private domains varying from traditional communication networks to more modern networks like the internet of things and the internet of energy crossing fog and edge computing, among others. As technology matures and its standard use cases are established, there is a need to gather recent research that can shed light on several aspects and facts on the use of blockchain technology in different fields of interest. Enabling Blockchain Technology for Secure Networking and Communications consolidates the recent research initiatives directed towards exploiting the advantages of blockchain technology for benefiting several areas of applications that vary from security and robustness to scalability and privacy-preserving and more. The chapters explore the current applications of blockchain for networking and communications, the future potentials of blockchain technology, and some not-yet-prospected areas of research and its application. This book is ideal for practitioners, stakeholders, researchers, academicians, and students interested in the concepts of blockchain technology and the potential and pitfalls of its application in different utilization domains.
Author: Jeremy Clark Publisher: Springer ISBN: 366253357X Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 351
Book Description
This book constitutes the refereed proceedings of three workshops heldat the 20th International Conference on Financial Cryptography and DataSecurity, FC 2016, in Christ Church, Barbados, in February 2016. The 22 full papers presented were carefully reviewed and selected from 49 submissions. They feature the outcome of the Second Workshop on Bitcoin and Blockchain Research, BITCOIN 2016, the First Workshop on Secure Voting Systems, VOTING 2016, and the 4th Workshop on Encrypted Computing and Applied Homomorphic Cryptography, WAHC 2016.
Author: K.M. Baalamurugan Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3030705013 Category : Technology & Engineering Languages : en Pages : 317
Book Description
This book explores the concepts and techniques of cloud security using blockchain. Also discussed is the possibility of applying blockchain to provide security in various domains. The authors discuss how blockchain holds the potential to significantly increase data privacy and security while boosting accuracy and integrity in cloud data. The specific highlight of this book is focused on the application of integrated technologies in enhancing cloud security models, use cases, and its challenges. The contributors, both from academia and industry, present their technical evaluation and comparison with existing technologies. This book pertains to IT professionals, researchers, and academicians towards fourth revolution technologies.
Author: Amit Kumar Tyagi Publisher: CRC Press ISBN: 1000474399 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 362
Book Description
Blockchain technology is an emerging distributed, decentralized architecture and computing paradigm, which has accelerated the development and application of cloud, fog and edge computing; artificial intelligence; cyber physical systems; social networking; crowdsourcing and crowdsensing; 5g; trust management and finance; and other many useful sectors. Nowadays, the primary blockchain technology uses are in information systems to keep information secure and private. However, many threats and vulnerabilities are facing blockchain in the past decade such 51% attacks, double spending attacks, etc. The popularity and rapid development of blockchain brings many technical and regulatory challenges for research and academic communities. The main goal of this book is to encourage both researchers and practitioners of Blockchain technology to share and exchange their experiences and recent studies between academia and industry. The reader will be provided with the most up-to-date knowledge of blockchain in mainstream areas of security and privacy in the decentralized domain, which is timely and essential (this is due to the fact that the distributed and p2p applications are increasing day-by-day, and the attackers adopt new mechanisms to threaten the security and privacy of the users in those environments). This book provides a detailed explanation of security and privacy with respect to blockchain for information systems, and will be an essential resource for students, researchers and scientists studying blockchain uses in information systems and those wanting to explore the current state of play.
Author: Vincent Gramoli Publisher: Springer Nature ISBN: 3031125789 Category : Computers Languages : en Pages : 133
Book Description
This practical new book offers the distributed-computing fundamental knowledge for individuals to connect with one another in a more secure and efficient way than with traditional blockchains. These new forms of secure, scalable blockchains promise to replace centralized institutions to connect individuals without the risks of user manipulations or data extortions. The techniques taught herein consist of enhancing blockchain security and making blockchain scalable by relying on the observation that no blockchain can exist without solving the consensus problem. First, the state-of-the-art of consensus protocols are analyzed, hence motivating the need for a new family of consensus protocols offering strong (deterministic) guarantees. Second, a didactic series of classic blockchain vulnerabilities is presented to illustrate the importance of novel designs better suited for the adversarial environment of open networks. These cutting-edge solutions are illustrated through the Redbelly blockchain design, which solves a different problem from the classic Byzantine consensus problem of 1982 and which delivers—in the modern blockchain context—high performance at large scale. Topics and features: Covers the combination of security and distributed computing to devise the new generation of blockchains Shows how blockchain has shed new light on decades of research in distributed systems Provides instruction on the security needed by the industry to use blockchains in production Explains didactically the necessary ingredients to make blockchain efficient at large scale Helps fill the gap of knowledge in the highly demanded blockchain sector This unique volume contains the building blocks to design secure and scalable blockchains. As such, it is dedicated to developers, application designers, and computer scientists and requires only a minimal undergraduate level in mathematics and computer science. Vincent Gramoli is an Australian Research Council Future Fellow at the University of Sydney and the Chief Technology Officer of Redbelly Network. He teaches the Blockchain Scalability course on Coursera.
Author: Christian Decker
Author: Christian Decker
Author: Ghassan O. Karame
Author: Edgar Weippl
Author: Saravanan Krishnan
Author: Zibin Zheng
Author: Ben Mnaouer, Adel
Author: Jeremy Clark
Author: K.M. Baalamurugan
Author: Amit Kumar Tyagi
Author: Vincent Gramoli