Securing multi-chain consensus against diverse miner behavior attacks in blockchain networks

Abstract

As cross-chain technologies enable interactions among different blockchains (hereinafter “chains”), multi-chain consensus is becoming increasingly important in blockchain networks. However, more attention has been paid to single-chain consensus schemes. Multi-chain consensus schemes with trusted miner participation have not been considered, thus offering opportunities for malicious users to launch diverse miner behavior (DMB) attacks on different chains. DMB attackers can be friendly in the consensus process on some chains, called mask chains, to enhance their trust value, while on others, called kill chains, they engage in destructive behaviors on the network. In this paper, we propose a multi-chain consensus scheme named Proof-of-DiscTrust (PoDT) to defend against DMB attacks. The idea of distinctive trust (DiscTrust) is introduced to evaluate the trust value of each user across different chains. The trustworthiness of a user is split into local and global trust values. A dynamic behavior prediction scheme is designed to enforce DiscTrust to prevent an intensive DMB attacker from maintaining strong trust by alternately creating true or false blocks on the kill chain. Three trusted miner selection algorithms for multi-chain environments can be implemented to select network miners, chain miners, and chain miner leaders, separately. Simulation results show that PoDT is secure against DMB attacks and more effective than traditional consensus schemes in multi-chain environments.

摘要

跨链技术的发展使得不同区块链间的互操作成为可能, 多链共识在区块链网络中变得日益重要。然而, 目前对单链共识方案的研究较多, 涉及可信矿工的多链共识方案的探讨相对较少, 这为恶意用户在不同链上发起多样化矿工行为(diverse miner behavior, DMB)攻击提供了机会。DMB攻击者可以在某些链(称为mask链)上表现友好并参与共识过程, 以提升其信任值, 而在其他链(称为kill链)上从事对网络具有破坏性的行为。本文提出一种名为Proof-of-DiscTrust(PoDT)的多链共识方案, 旨在防范DMB攻击。该方案引入DiscTrust信任理念, 用于评估每个用户在不同链上的信任值。用户的信任值被分为本地信任值和全局信任值。针对DMB攻击者通过在kill链上交替创建真实或虚假区块来维持其信任度的问题, 设计了一种实施DiscTrust机制的动态行为预测方法。此外, 针对多链环境, 提出3个可信矿工选择算法, 分别用于选择网络矿工、链矿工和链矿工领导者。实验结果表明, PoDT方案能够抵抗DMB攻击, 并且在多链环境中比传统共识方案更为有效。