On the Scalability and Security of Bitcoin PDF Download

Author: Christian Decker
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781530769452
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 196

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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

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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: Rashmi Agrawal
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000038610
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 367

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Book Description
This new volume looks at the electrifying world of blockchain technology and how it has been revolutionizing the Internet of Things and cyber-physical systems. Aimed primarily at business users and developers who are considering blockchain-based projects, the volume provides a comprehensive introduction to the theoretical and practical aspects of blockchain technology. It presents a selection of chapters on topics that cover new information on blockchain and bitcoin security, IoT security threats and attacks, privacy issues, fault-tolerance mechanisms, and more. Some major software packages are discussed, and it also addresses the legal issues currently affecting the field. The information presented here is relevant to current and future problems relating to blockchain technology and will provide the tools to build efficient decentralized applications. Blockchain technology and the IoT can profoundly change how the world—and businesses—work, and this book provides a window into the current world of blockchain. No longer limited to just Bitcoin, blockchain technology has spread into many sectors and into a significant number of different technologies.

Author: Edgar Weippl
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781450341394
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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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: Kapil Jain
Publisher: BPB Publications
ISBN: 9389898102
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 384

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Book Description
Learning Bitcoin SV: The Original Bitcoin & Global Public Blockchain for Enterprise Key Features a- Get familiar with the working of the Bitcoin network, protocol, transactions, Smart contracts and the incentive models of Bitcoin. a- Learn advanced concepts such as Metanet and Tokenized protocol. a- Work with tools and utilities to build consumer and enterprise applications. a- Get a full explanation of cryptography and its math in Bitcoin. Description In 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto released a codebase and whitepaper for a network that came to be known as the Blockchain. It was the first successful attempt to create electronic money after decades of failed attempts across the world. However, the basis of its success is not just the digitalization of currency into electronic form, but its peer-to-peer node network and the public storage of all transactions in time-stamped blocks chained together called as Timechain in the whitepaper. It also introduces a non-trusted third party transaction processor, which replaces the current centralized trust-based systems. What happened next is history, and today, it is a multi-billion dollar industry across the world. Bitcoin Satoshi Vision Blockchain restored the original version of the Bitcoin protocol and it is now a thriving developer, business and enterprise ecosystem. This book offers a practical deep dive into every aspect of the Bitcoin protocol. It includes the math behind the Cryptography and a detailed overview of the application-level protocol, which works on top of the Bitcoin Blockchain network. It also focuses on the core principles and fundamental concepts of Bitcoin to explain the constructs of a Blockchain type system. What will you learn a- You will learn the internal workings of Bitcoin and get the ability to understand most blockchains that exist. a- Create applications using bitcoin as a public registry and a data storage ledger. a- Create and store data on Blockchain as DAG. a- Discover and get familiar with the advanced Application layer protocols. a- Get familiar with the law and regulations applicable to Bitcoin. Who this book is for This book is for anyone who is interested in exploring blockchain technology. It will appeal to Developers, Architects, Technology Managers and Executives who wish to build new or transform their existing applications to a blockchain based system to gain efficiencies in Cost, Scalability, Security and Robustness. Table of Contents 1. Bitcoin Protocol Overview : Origins and Concept 2. Economic model of Bitcoin and network structure for nodes 3. Cryptography and ECDSA Infrastructure 4. All about wallets 5. Transactions and Transaction Scripts 6. Miners and Nakamoto Consensus 7. Metanet Protocol : Data Structures on Blockchain 8. Bitcom and Other Application Protocols 9. Data Carrier Transactions : BitDB and Querying bitcoin as database 10. Planaria and other utilities 11. Real world Applications 12. Identity and Authentication on BitCoin : Paymail 13. Tokens and the Tokenized protocol for building real world utilities 14. Going into future : AI/ML, Big Data, IOT 15. BitCoin and Law About the Author Kapil Jain is a technology professional working in the IT departments of large US and European organizations working in the Banking and Financial industry. He has done his engineering degree from Sri GS institute of technology and sciences, Indore, and has played the role of programmer, business analyst, architect, project, and program manager over the 18 years of his experience in the industry. He continues to work in his professional capacity for a global bank's core payment department. He comes from a wealth of experience in Financial applications built on Mainframes and works to modernize those applications using Microsoft and Java-based tech stacks, cloud infrastructure, including building serverless applications.

Author: Ben Mnaouer, Adel
Publisher: IGI Global
ISBN: 1799858413
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 339

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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: Tatiana Gayvoronskaya
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030615596
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 126

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Book Description
This book focuses on the innovation of blockchain technology and the advantages it offers. It provides a clear and comprehensive overview of blockchain technology and its possibilities, and thereby helps readers to form an opinion and draw their own conclusions about its potential exploitations. The book begins with a chapter on the topic of decentralized networks, which familiarizes readers with their challenges by using the example of an online trading platform. Hereinafter, it is then detailed what blockchain technology is, where it comes from, and how it works. The necessary underlying technologies are explained, and various individual approaches as well as their composition are presented. Using well-known examples such as Bitcoin and Ethereum as an illustration, the book looks at the architecture of blockchain technology and focuses on the challenges such as security and scalability. The options available when introducing blockchain technology are also outlined, and best-practice examples are presented to get a better idea of what areas benefit from this technology. Numerous examples and detailed explanations will accompany the readers throughout the book. By the time they have reached the end, they will be able to decide for themselves what is truly innovative about blockchain technology and what is nothing more than hype.

Author: Sachin Shetty
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN: 1119519586
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 341

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Book Description
AN ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO USING BLOCKCHAIN TO PROVIDE FLEXIBILITY, COST-SAVINGS, AND SECURITY TO DATA MANAGEMENT, DATA ANALYSIS, AND INFORMATION SHARING Blockchain for Distributed Systems Security contains a description of the properties that underpin the formal foundations of Blockchain technologies and explores the practical issues for deployment in cloud and Internet of Things (IoT) platforms. The authors—noted experts in the field—present security and privacy issues that must be addressed for Blockchain technologies to be adopted for civilian and military domains. The book covers a range of topics including data provenance in cloud storage, secure IoT models, auditing architecture, and empirical validation of permissioned Blockchain platforms. The book's security and privacy analysis helps with an understanding of the basics of Blockchain and it explores the quantifying impact of the new attack surfaces introduced by Blockchain technologies and platforms. In addition, the book contains relevant and current updates on the topic. This important resource: Provides an overview of Blockchain-based secure data management and storage for cloud and IoT Covers cutting-edge research findings on topics including invariant-based supply chain protection, information sharing framework, and trust worthy information federation Addresses security and privacy concerns in Blockchain in key areas, such as preventing digital currency miners from launching attacks against mining pools, empirical analysis of the attack surface of Blockchain, and more Written for researchers and experts in computer science and engineering, Blockchain for Distributed Systems Security contains the most recent information and academic research to provide an understanding of the application of Blockchain technology.

Author: K.M. Baalamurugan
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 3030705013
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 317

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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: Yassine Maleh
Publisher: CRC Press
ISBN: 1000060160
Category : Computers
Languages : en
Pages : 407

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Book Description
Blockchain technology is defined as a decentralized system of distributed registers that are used to record data transactions on multiple computers. The reason this technology has gained popularity is that you can put any digital asset or transaction in the blocking chain, the industry does not matter. Blockchain technology has infiltrated all areas of our lives, from manufacturing to healthcare and beyond. Cybersecurity is an industry that has been significantly affected by this technology and may be more so in the future. Blockchain for Cybersecurity and Privacy: Architectures, Challenges, and Applications is an invaluable resource to discover the blockchain applications for cybersecurity and privacy. The purpose of this book is to improve the awareness of readers about blockchain technology applications for cybersecurity and privacy. This book focuses on the fundamentals, architectures, and challenges of adopting blockchain for cybersecurity. Readers will discover different applications of blockchain for cybersecurity in IoT and healthcare. The book also includes some case studies of the blockchain for e-commerce online payment, retention payment system, and digital forensics. The book offers comprehensive coverage of the most essential topics, including: Blockchain architectures and challenges Blockchain threats and vulnerabilities Blockchain security and potential future use cases Blockchain for securing Internet of Things Blockchain for cybersecurity in healthcare Blockchain in facilitating payment system security and privacy This book comprises a number of state-of-the-art contributions from both scientists and practitioners working in the fields of blockchain technology and cybersecurity. It aspires to provide a relevant reference for students, researchers, engineers, and professionals working in this particular area or those interested in grasping its diverse facets and exploring the latest advances on the blockchain for cybersecurity and privacy.