Hacking groups—at least one of which works on behalf of the North Korean government—have found a new and inexpensive way to distribute malware from “bulletproof” hosts: stashing them on public cryptocurrency blockchains.
In a Thursday post, members of the Google Threat Intelligence Group said the technique provides the hackers with their own “bulletproof” host, a term that describes cloud platforms that are largely immune from takedowns by law enforcement and pressure from security researchers. More traditionally, these hosts are located in countries without treaties agreeing to enforce criminal laws from the US and other nations. These services often charge hefty sums and cater to criminals spreading malware or peddling child sexual abuse material and wares sold in crime-based flea markets. — Read More
Tag Archives: BlockChain
BlockChain and Web3
Checks and balances: Machine learning and zero-knowledge proofs
For the past few years, zero-knowledge proofs on blockchains have been useful for two key purposes: (1) scaling compute-constrained networks by processing transactions off-chain and verifying the results on mainnet; and (2) protecting user privacy by enabling shielded transactions, viewable only to those who possess the decryption key. Within the context of blockchains, it’s clear why these properties are desirable: a decentralized network like Ethereum can’t increase throughput or block size without untenable demands on validator processing power, bandwidth, and latency (hence the need for validity rollups), and all transactions are visible to anyone (hence the demand for on-chain privacy solutions).
But zero-knowledge proofs are also useful for a third class of capabilities: efficiently verifying that any kind of computation (not just those within an off-chain instantiation of the EVM) has run correctly. This has implications far beyond blockchains. Read More
Will quantum computing kill Crypto?
Many claim quantum computing threats the existence of Crypto, but does it really?
“Blockchain is useless because it is going to be killed by quantum computers anyway.”
You’ve probably heard this many times.
If that statement was to be true, quantum computing can also have the potential to kill the entire Internet security infrastructure.
Indeed, certain aspects of blockchains, the Internet, and cryptography, are highly quantum unsafe, making quantum computers a very dangerous hazard for your portfolio if not taken into account at the right time.
But, to what extent are our Crypto investments in danger? Read More
#blockchain, #quantum
Ethereum Miners Are Quickly Dying Less Than 24 Hours After The Merge
Ethereum miners are increasingly finding it hard to make money after the Merge as too many of them are switching to alternative coins, crushing mining profitability.
The world’s second-largest blockchain network, Ethereum earlier Thursday transitioned its consensus algorithm to proof-of-stake from proof-of-work in order to boost efficiency and lower energy consumption. However, the switch – dubbed the Merge – also meant that miners were no longer needed to secure the network, so rig operators moved their machines to other PoW blockchains.
“Graphics processing units (GPU) mining is dead less than 24 hours after the Merge,” tweeted Ben Gagnon, chief mining officer at bitcoin miner Bitfarms (BITF). The three largest GPU chains have very low profits, and “the only coins showing profit have no market cap or liquidity,” he added. Read More
China has been quietly building a blockchain platform
In a speech in 2019, the Chinese leader said blockchain was an “important breakthrough in independent innovation of core technologies.”
Since then, China has quietly been building a platform that aims to facilitate the deployment of blockchain technology for enterprises. It is called Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN).
BSN, which has links to the Chinese government, is aiming to go global but could face challenges. Read More
The Paper that can Change the Foundations of all Blockchain Cryptography
One of the biggest breakthroughts in modern cryptography can have a deep impact in blockchain protocols.
Cryptography is at the heart of many blockchain protocols. From traditional proof-of-work(PoW) to L2 modern approaches such as ZK-rollups, many advanced cryptographic methods provide the foundation of blockchain runtimes and protocols. Consequently, there is an omnipresent question about the security robustness of any blockchain architecture. Naively, we assume that blockchain cryptographic implementations that have survived complex attacks are inherently secured but that’s far from being an empirical proof. Is there a better way to verify the robustness of security algorithms. The answers seem to be in a new paper that just won the National Security Agency(NSA)’s “Best Cybersecurity Research Paper Competition” causing a lot of noise within the cryptography research community.
Titled “On One-way Functions and Kolmogorov Complexity” the paper provides an answer to one of the quincentennial problems in cryptography. The problem at hand is related to the existence of a mathematical construct called “one-way functions” that can prove whether a method such as a zero knowledge proof in an L2 blockchain, is cryptographically secured. Read More
A Fistful of Bitcoins: Characterizing Payments Among Men with No Names
Bitcoin is a purely online virtual currency, unbacked by either physical commodities or sovereign obligation; instead, it relies on a combination of cryptographic protection and a peer-to-peer protocol for witnessing settlements. Consequently, Bitcoin has the unintuitive property that while the ownership of money is implicitly anonymous, its flow is globally visible. In this paper we explore this unique characteristic further, using heuristic clustering to group Bitcoin wallets based on evidence of shared authority, and then using re-identification attacks (i.e., empirical purchasing of goods and services) to classify the operators of those clusters. From this analysis, we characterize longitudinal changes in the Bitcoin market, the stresses these changes are placing on the system, and the challenges for those seeking to use Bitcoin for criminal or fraudulent purposes at scale. Read More
#blockchainSome crypto-criminals think jumping across blockchains covers their tracks. Big mistake.
A popular cryptocurrency service that may appear to enhance anonymity actually doesn’t, according to new research.
By now, savvy cryptocurrency users looking to cover their tracks are well aware that Bitcoin and blockchain systems like it are far from anonymous. Law enforcement officials can trace transactions and even identify who is making them.
Some users believed they’d found a way around this. They thought investigators could only track transactions within blockchains, so they could stay anonymous by moving from one blockchain to another. A number of startups have sprung up that offer exactly this service. Well, blockchain sleuths may have this avenue covered now too. Read More
Rick's Cafe AI 