A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools

Mohiuddin Ahmed; Jinpeng Wei; Yongge Wang; Ehab Al-Shaer

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11

A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools

Mohiuddin Ahmed, Jinpeng Wei^*, Yongge Wang, Ehab Al-Shaer

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

3 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper discusses a potentially serious attack against public crypto-currency mining pools. By deliberately introducing errors under benign miners’ names, this attack can fool the mining pool administrator into punishing any innocent miner; when the top miners are punished, this attack can significantly slow down the overall production of the mining pool. We show that an attacker needs only a small fraction (e.g., one millionth) of the resources of a victim mining pool, which makes this attack scheme very affordable by a less powerful competing mining pool. We experimentally confirm the effectiveness of this attack scheme against a few well-known mining pools such as Minergate and Slush Pool.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings
Editors	Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro, Jordi Herrera-Joancomartí, Giovanni Livraga, Ruben Rios
Publisher	Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH
Pages	140-154
Number of pages	15
ISBN (Print)	9783030003043
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11
State	Published - 2018
Externally published	Yes
Event	2nd International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, CBT 2018 held in conjunction with the 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018 - Barcelona, Spain Duration: 6 Sep 2018 → 7 Sep 2018

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)
Volume	11025 LNCS
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	2nd International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, CBT 2018 held in conjunction with the 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018
Country/Territory	Spain
City	Barcelona
Period	6/09/18 → 7/09/18

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018.

Keywords

Crypto currency
DoS attack
Invalid share
Mining pool
Stratum protocol

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Theoretical Computer Science
General Computer Science

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11

Cite this

Ahmed, M., Wei, J., Wang, Y., & Al-Shaer, E. (2018). A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools. In J. Garcia-Alfaro, J. Herrera-Joancomartí, G. Livraga, & R. Rios (Eds.), Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings (pp. 140-154). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 11025 LNCS). Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11

Ahmed, Mohiuddin ; Wei, Jinpeng ; Wang, Yongge et al. / A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools. Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings. editor / Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro ; Jordi Herrera-Joancomartí ; Giovanni Livraga ; Ruben Rios. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2018. pp. 140-154 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)).

@inproceedings{1f2489c940bc4a52ae8493d061808529,

title = "A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools",

abstract = "This paper discusses a potentially serious attack against public crypto-currency mining pools. By deliberately introducing errors under benign miners{\textquoteright} names, this attack can fool the mining pool administrator into punishing any innocent miner; when the top miners are punished, this attack can significantly slow down the overall production of the mining pool. We show that an attacker needs only a small fraction (e.g., one millionth) of the resources of a victim mining pool, which makes this attack scheme very affordable by a less powerful competing mining pool. We experimentally confirm the effectiveness of this attack scheme against a few well-known mining pools such as Minergate and Slush Pool.",

keywords = "Crypto currency, DoS attack, Invalid share, Mining pool, Stratum protocol",

author = "Mohiuddin Ahmed and Jinpeng Wei and Yongge Wang and Ehab Al-Shaer",

note = "Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018.; 2nd International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, CBT 2018 held in conjunction with the 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018 ; Conference date: 06-09-2018 Through 07-09-2018",

year = "2018",

doi = "10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0\_11",

language = "English",

isbn = "9783030003043",

series = "Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)",

publisher = "Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH",

pages = "140--154",

editor = "Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro and Jordi Herrera-Joancomart{\'i} and Giovanni Livraga and Ruben Rios",

booktitle = "Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings",

address = "Germany",

}

Ahmed, M, Wei, J, Wang, Y & Al-Shaer, E 2018, A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools. in J Garcia-Alfaro, J Herrera-Joancomartí, G Livraga & R Rios (eds), Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings. Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics), vol. 11025 LNCS, Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, pp. 140-154, 2nd International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, CBT 2018 held in conjunction with the 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018, Barcelona, Spain, 6/09/18. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11

A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools. / Ahmed, Mohiuddin; Wei, Jinpeng; Wang, Yongge et al.
Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings. ed. / Joaquin Garcia-Alfaro; Jordi Herrera-Joancomartí; Giovanni Livraga; Ruben Rios. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2018. p. 140-154 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics); Vol. 11025 LNCS).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution › peer-review

TY - GEN

T1 - A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools

AU - Ahmed, Mohiuddin

AU - Wei, Jinpeng

AU - Wang, Yongge

AU - Al-Shaer, Ehab

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2018.

PY - 2018

Y1 - 2018

N2 - This paper discusses a potentially serious attack against public crypto-currency mining pools. By deliberately introducing errors under benign miners’ names, this attack can fool the mining pool administrator into punishing any innocent miner; when the top miners are punished, this attack can significantly slow down the overall production of the mining pool. We show that an attacker needs only a small fraction (e.g., one millionth) of the resources of a victim mining pool, which makes this attack scheme very affordable by a less powerful competing mining pool. We experimentally confirm the effectiveness of this attack scheme against a few well-known mining pools such as Minergate and Slush Pool.

AB - This paper discusses a potentially serious attack against public crypto-currency mining pools. By deliberately introducing errors under benign miners’ names, this attack can fool the mining pool administrator into punishing any innocent miner; when the top miners are punished, this attack can significantly slow down the overall production of the mining pool. We show that an attacker needs only a small fraction (e.g., one millionth) of the resources of a victim mining pool, which makes this attack scheme very affordable by a less powerful competing mining pool. We experimentally confirm the effectiveness of this attack scheme against a few well-known mining pools such as Minergate and Slush Pool.

KW - Crypto currency

KW - DoS attack

KW - Invalid share

KW - Mining pool

KW - Stratum protocol

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/85065121407

U2 - 10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11

DO - 10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85065121407

SN - 9783030003043

T3 - Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)

SP - 140

EP - 154

BT - Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings

A2 - Garcia-Alfaro, Joaquin

A2 - Herrera-Joancomartí, Jordi

A2 - Livraga, Giovanni

A2 - Rios, Ruben

PB - Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH

T2 - 2nd International Workshop on Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology, CBT 2018 held in conjunction with the 23rd European Symposium on Research in Computer Security, ESORICS 2018

Y2 - 6 September 2018 through 7 September 2018

ER -

Ahmed M, Wei J, Wang Y, Al-Shaer E. A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools. In Garcia-Alfaro J, Herrera-Joancomartí J, Livraga G, Rios R, editors, Data Privacy Management, Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain Technology - ESORICS 2018 International Workshops, DPM 2018 and CBT 2018, Proceedings. Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH. 2018. p. 140-154. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science (including subseries Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence and Lecture Notes in Bioinformatics)). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-00305-0_11

A Poisoning Attack Against Cryptocurrency Mining Pools

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Access to Document

Fingerprint

Cite this