Eclipse Attacks in Blockchain Networks: Detection, Prevention, and Future Directions
Zubaida Rehman, Mark Gregory, Iqbal Gondal, Hai Dong, Mengmeng Ge
Abstract
This paper presents a comprehensive study on eclipse attacks in blockchain networks by describing how eclipse attacks work, their effects, detection, and prevention. In this context, understanding and controlling network-level attacks, such as eclipse attacks, is an essential task in relation to assurance and reliability for decentralized systems that utilize blockchain technology. An eclipse attack is a sequence of network-layer attacks that monopolize the connections to a target node to isolate it from the rest of the network. Eclipse attacks that focus on node discovery manipulation, can have a substantial impact on a blockchain network, by increasing transaction computation cost, transaction censorship, and consensus disruption. We studied eclipse attacks on a blockchain network. The attack vectors were associated with node discovery manipulation, network partitioning, and information flow exploitation. This paper also reviews state-of-the-art detection methods and prevention strategies, shedding light on their effectiveness and limitations. Awareness of eclipse attacks and their effect provides the motivation for further research in developing practical and resilient security measures for blockchain networks.