Security Vulnerabilities in Blockchain System and Strategies to Mitigate Them.
Blockchain technology is renowned for its security features, utilizing cryptographic techniques and decentralization to ensure the integrity and immutability of data. However, like any technology, it's not immune to security vulnerabilities. Blockchain system is a decentralized transaction and data management system that provide security, anonymity, and data integrity without involving any third‐party organization in control of the transactions. Blockchain system has equity management capabilities by using electronic invoice ledgers for transactions performed over the internet. Blockchain is also being applied in the fields of finance, gaming, gambling, supply chain, manufacturing, trade, and e‐commerce. Blockchain system is an immutable database of all historical transactions stored as a digital ledger. Furthermore, all nodes (users) on the distributed blockchain network can manage the shared ledger.
The Blockchain Vulnerabilities?
Wallet security (private key security): A blockchain system can easily be exploited through any vulnerability that might contribute to a cryptographic solution, because it is obvious that any programming bug or lack of secure private key can be the foundation of a major security breach. Hypothetically, a crypto attacker should not be able to understand the original plain text, which is encrypted. However, it is not difficult to understand the format of the blocks, and even a good cryptograph makes a plain text, such as random gibberish, but certain characters or numbers are often found in the same place in each block in the blockchain. This allows an attacker the opportunity to attempt a partial representation of the plain text in every crypto protected block, where each block is a function of the preceding block.
Network‐level attack At present, blockchain network security problems become the most popular research issues on the network security field. However, there are still various concerns about its scalability, security, availability, and sustainability. With the rise of the digital currency market, cyber-attacks that endeavor to influence marketing and business‐oriented services are constantly increasing. Among the numerous attacks, distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks are one of the most common network bandwidth consumption attacks that have caused trouble for services. DDoS attacks on blockchain‐ based platforms are not like regular attacks. In a decentralized and peer‐to‐peer technology.
Attack on Smart Contracts: Smart contracts on Ethereum represent the second generation of public blockchains, providing an open and global computing platform that allows for the exchange of cryptomeda (Ether). Smart contracts are intelligent, self‐checking contract applications that provide a foundation for digital asset proprietorship and a range of decentralized applications in the blockchain domain.
The 51% attack or Goldfinger: Blockchain consensus architectures are particularly vulnerable to double spending and 51% attacks. These attacks cannnot be avoided in such systems and theoretically, can happen all the time. The 51% attack was first used to attack Bitcoin, but can also be used on other BT systems. When good nodes control at least 51% of the network mining power, a BT system can then be considered protected. In this case, the cost of controlling a major stake might be greater than the cost of obtaining significant mining power, thus increasing the cost of attacks. In addition, the attacker's coin time can be paid during the attack, which may make it more difficult for the attacker to prevent transactions from being added to the leading chain.
Ways to mitigate Blockchain Vulnerability
Smart Contract Audit: security experts and experienced developers should conduct thorough code audits. Th e use of reputable security tools to analyze smart contract code for vulnerabilities should be enabled.
Consensus Mechanism Selection: They should choose a robust consensus mechanism like Proof-of-Work (PoW) or Proof-of-Stake (PoS) to resist attacks and regularly assess and monitor network hash rates to detect network anomalies.
Double Spending Prevention: The implementation of consensus mechanisms that validate and confirm transactions should be employed, also utilize timestamping services to ensure the chronological order of transactions.
Consensus Algorithm Security: Regular updates and patches should be done on the blockchain software to address the potential flaws in the consensus algorithm. There should also be conducting extensive testing before deploying new consensus algorithms to curb the attacks.
Legal and Regulatory Compliance: Developers and users should Stay informed about evolving legal and regulatory frameworks related to blockchain so as not to be caught off guard and also collaborate with legal experts to ensure compliance with local regulations in the country.