TY - GEN
T1 - Mempool optimization for Defending Against DDoS Attacks in PoW-based Blockchain Systems
AU - Saad, Muhammad
AU - Njilla, Laurent
AU - Kamhoua, Charles
AU - Kim, Joongheon
AU - Nyang, Daehun
AU - Mohaisen, Aziz
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 IEEE.
PY - 2019/5
Y1 - 2019/5
N2 - In this paper, we present a new form of attack that can be carried out on the memory pools (mempools) of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. Towards that end, we study such an attack on Bitcoin mempool and explore its effects on transactions fee paid by legitimate users. We also propose countermeasures to contain such an attack. Our countermeasures include fee-based and age-based designs, which optimize the mempool size and help in countering the effects of DDoS attacks. We further evaluate our designs by simulations and analyze their usefulness in varying attack conditions. Our analyses can be extended to other blockchain-based applications which use memory pools to cache network activities.
AB - In this paper, we present a new form of attack that can be carried out on the memory pools (mempools) of blockchain-based cryptocurrencies. Towards that end, we study such an attack on Bitcoin mempool and explore its effects on transactions fee paid by legitimate users. We also propose countermeasures to contain such an attack. Our countermeasures include fee-based and age-based designs, which optimize the mempool size and help in countering the effects of DDoS attacks. We further evaluate our designs by simulations and analyze their usefulness in varying attack conditions. Our analyses can be extended to other blockchain-based applications which use memory pools to cache network activities.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069198584&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/BLOC.2019.8751476
DO - 10.1109/BLOC.2019.8751476
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85069198584
T3 - ICBC 2019 - IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
SP - 285
EP - 292
BT - ICBC 2019 - IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
Y2 - 14 May 2019 through 17 May 2019
ER -