Colleagues, the threat of 51% attacks loom
large in the global cryptosphere. However, findings suggest that the potential
for a 51% mining attack has an inverse correlation to the market cap of a given
cryptocurrency. Attacks by a group
of miners controlling more than 50% of
the network's mining hashrate or computing
power of the currency’s Blockchain. Two factors drive the propensity of a
cryptocurrency 51% attack. First, cryptos with smaller market caps typically
have fewer active miners. It is easier to gain control over 1000 miners of ZCoin, which ranks 100th
in market cap by CoinMarketCap at some $60m USD #1 ranked Bitcoin valued at roughly
$114t USD with perhaps 1,000,000 active miners worldwide. Second, the
availability of relatively low-cost mining pools enable cyber criminals the opportunity to “rent”
GPU power from multiple
pools simultaneously while subtly approaching the 51%+ threshold for
controlling hashrates. Pre-emptive measures include making code changes at the Blockchain protocol level, boycotting likely attackers, increasing the
number of confirmation requirements and unleashing a DDoS attacks on suspected hackers. Bottom line: There is no
fail-safe strategy become a victim of a 51% Attack, however, investing in Tier
1 cryptocurrencies (e.g. the CoinMarketCap’s top 10 cryptos) provides optimal security
and peace of mind. Post a comment while visiting us today! Lawrence – Cyber
Security Defender (https://cybersecuritydefender.blogspot.com/)
No comments:
Post a Comment