Hijacking Bitcoin: Routing Attacks on Cryptocurrencies

Explore a comprehensive analysis of routing attacks on Bitcoin in this IEEE Symposium presentation. Delve into the first taxonomy of routing attacks and their impact on cryptocurrencies, focusing on both small-scale attacks targeting individual nodes and large-scale attacks aimed at the entire network. Discover how Autonomous Systems can intercept and manipulate Bitcoin traffic through BGP hijacks and natural traffic interception. Learn about the efficiency of routing manipulation and the significant centralization of Bitcoin in terms of mining and routing. Examine findings that reveal how network attackers can isolate a substantial portion of mining power by hijacking a small number of BGP prefixes. Understand how on-path network attackers can slow down block propagation by interfering with key Bitcoin messages. Gain insights into the potential damage these attacks can cause, including wasted mining power, revenue losses, and vulnerabilities to exploits like double spending. Explore both short-term and long-term countermeasures to prevent such attacks, with some solutions ready for immediate deployment.