Researchers from the Digital Currency Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) came up with a solution that can deter and prevent attacks on blockchains, according to The Block.
Currently, the 51% attack is the most popular one. This is an attack in which an ill-intended miner seizes control over more than 50% of the hash rate. In turn, this enables the attacker to spend the same cryptocurrency twice and be able to dismiss any other transaction.
In order to combat this issue, the MIT researchers created the Pool Detective last December.
This proxy server establishes a connection with 32 different pools and collects data about their activity. As a part of the analysis, experts identify “unexpected behavior patterns or anomalies.” For instance, they determine if the new blocks that are being added to the chain are any different from what has been expected.
The MIT developers claim Pool Detective enables you to detect incoming attacks before they even happen. Furthermore, this solution is also usable by the hash power rental marketplaces. The experts believe that hackers could use cheap energy to undermine crypto and other blockchain-based technologies.
The MIT researchers want to expand the monitoring they do of mining pools by tracking not only the blocks, but also messages being sent in peer-to-peer networks. This research will enable potential victims of a 51% attack to better understand what kind of activity the miners perform compared with the projected result of their activity.
The same team of researchers also plans to create a version of the Pool Detective, that private miners could launch to ensure their own protection from attacks.
