DoS Attacks on Blockchain Ecosystem

TL;DR

This paper investigates the prevalence of DoS attacks in the blockchain ecosystem, identifies key entities affected, and proposes a novel mitigation technique using verifiable delay functions to enhance security.

Contribution

It is the first study to analyze DoS attacks on blockchain entities and introduces a new mitigation method employing verifiable delay functions.

Findings

Identified ten key entities in the blockchain ecosystem vulnerable to DoS attacks.

Analyzed existing DoS mitigation techniques applicable to blockchain services.

Proposed a novel DoS mitigation approach using verifiable delay functions.

Abstract

Denial of Service (DoS) attacks are a growing threat in network services. The frequency and intensity of DoS attacks are rapidly increasing day by day. The immense financial potential of the Cryptocurrency market is a prevalent target of the DoS attack. The DoS attack events are kept on happening in cryptocurrencies and the blockchain ecosystem. To the best of our knowledge, there has not been any study on the DoS attack on the blockchain ecosystem. In this paper, we identify ten entities in the blockchain ecosystem and we scrutinize the DoS attacks on them. We also present the DoS mitigation techniques applicable to the blockchain services. Additionally, we propose a DoS mitigation technique by the use of verifiable delay function (VDF).