When it comes to blockchain space operations, one of the most important factors to consider is blockchain cybersecurity https://www.apostro.xyz/product/blockchain-security . Participants in the field are looking into new cybersecurity solutions as technology progresses, as well as documenting and protecting themselves against recognized risks. In this article, we will look at some of the most common threats in the blockchain space, such as phishing and consensus attacks.
Consensus attacks
A 51% consensus attack is effectively a denial-of-service (DOS) attack on the network. The nodes are unable to operate, preventing the network from operating and potentially influencing the price of the underlying network token. The resulting disruption in functionality might be detrimental to both the network and its participants.
As one may anticipate, consensus attacks are exceedingly expensive to undertake as they demand considerable mining power. To carry it out, one must either be willing to spend a significant amount of money or join hands with other miners aiming to attack the network. If an individual or a group of collaborators obtains more than 51% of the network’s mining power, they may then influence block generation and even seek to introduce double-spending, or prohibit transactions from coming through to particular wallets, and so on. To mitigate a 51% attack, a Proof of Stake (PoS) technique might be utilized. Nodes on a PoS network must stake native tokens in order to validate transactions. This makes it more difficult for an attacker to influence the network.
Phishing attacks
In the blockchain space, phishing attacks are becoming increasingly common. Hackers employ a variety of ways to target both new and old users in order to steal crypto assets, conduct illegal operations, or even steal people’s identities. Malicious actors employ social engineering to discover more about you and exploit it to defraud you.
Malicious actors typically utilize fake websites to gain the personal information and private keys of unsuspecting users. By utilizing this information, fraudsters then have access to your wallet or account and can move all the assets whenever they see fit. In order to direct you to the false website, the attacker frequently poses as a representative of a service you use, such as a support agent attempting to assist you with an issue that has arisen or asking to update your personal info. It does not matter if you solely utilized centralised services or entirely decentralised in your crypto life – there are many techniques that malevolent actors use to stir up your emotions and exploit it against your better judgement.
A classic phishing attack starts with an email. It will include a link to a fake website and directions on what malicious actors expect you to do – with the counterfeit website will appear to be an exact replica of the real one, with the only change being the website URL.
DDoS attacks
A successful DDoS attack can be performed not only against a server or website, one can also use it to disrupt blockchain network operations. In the case of blockchain, malicious actors use transaction flooding. Hundreds of spam transactions are transmitted to the network as a result of these attacks. One can wonder how can it affect blockchain – transactions are the usual thing to be processed. Let’s dive deeper.
Blockchains are built around blocks. Each block can only have a certain amount of transactions. When hundreds of spam transactions are sent to the network, real transactions are filtered from the current block and preserved in memory.
All legitimate transactions are retained in memory as a result of transaction flooding. They cannot be confirmed if they are not included in blocks, and the transaction fails. Because the blockchain cannot perform transactions at the present rate, users may have to wait many hours before their blocks are validated – and the disruption in operations can lead to unexpected consequences.
Enhancing security
Smart contract audits, research, thousands of tests, bug bounties, and other methods are being used to improve blockchain cybersecurity. But above all, users should prioritize their personal security at this stage of blockchain development by securing private keys and keeping a watch out for phishing, ransomware, or fraud attempts. Another thing to keep an eye on is the security procedures of the crypto projects that users use – whether they have been attacked in the past or not, if they have undergone audits, or whether they utilize risk management systems to defend against economic and technical exploitation.