Bitcoin Eclipse Attacks And How To Stop Them: Van Wirdum Sjorsnado

In this episode of The Van Wirdum Sjorsnado, Aaron and Sjors discuss Eclipse attacks. More specifically, they discuss the 2015 paper “Eclipse Attacks on Bitcoin’s Peer-to-Peer Network,” written by Ethan Heilman, Alison Kendler, Aviv Zohar and Sharon Goldberg, from Boston University and Hebrew University/MSR Israel.

Eclipse attacks are a type of attack that isolates a Bitcoin node by occupying all of its connection slots to block the node from receiving any transactions, barring it from transactions other than those sent to it by the attacker. This would prevent the node from seeing what’s going on in the Bitcoin network, and potentially even trick the node into accepting an alternative (and thus invalid) version of the Bitcoin blockchain.

Aaron and Sjors explain how this type of attack could be used to dupe users and miners. They also discuss some of the solutions proposed in the paper to counter this type of attack, including solutions that have by now already been implemented in Bitcoin Core software. This includes a solution that will be included in the next Bitcoin Core software release, Bitcoin Core 0.21.0. They also mention one solution that is not included in the paper.

Support the show!

Follow Aaron van Wirdum on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AaronvanW
Follow Sjors Provoost on Twitter: @provoost
Music:
Title: Segwit Sounds
Artist: The NakamoTones
Album: Citadel Music
Producer: Bitcoin Audio

For more compelling video content from Bitcoin's original publication, subscribe and turn on notifications for the Bitcoin Magazine YouTube channel.

Connect with us on social media and join the conversation:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/bitcoin-magazine/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BitcoinMagazine
Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/bitcoin

Subscribe to our newsletter and receive news and analysis before anyone else: https://bitcoinmagazine.com/subscribe

Listen and subscribe to our podcasts:
Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bitcoin-magazine/id1459884105
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/1IxBiqXrUwWUgwiQwKWwxk?si=i1YLDbXySIGGZ1owRdgXtQ
Google: https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cDovL2JpdGNvaW5tYWdhemluZS5idGMubGlic3lucHJvLmNvbS9yc3M

~

Bitcoin Black Friday is almost here! Don’t miss the best deals in BTC: https://www.bitcoinblackfriday.com/
Bitcoin 2021 will be the biggest Bitcoin conference ever! Get your ticket now: https://b.tc/conference