British telecom giant applies for patent: deploying security components to resist blockchain attacks

British Telecom Group (BT) has filed an application with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (PTO) for a computer method to combat blockchain attacks that would flag malicious activity and allow for immediate remediation.

The inventors of the patent are Joshua Daniel, Gery Ducatel and Theo Dimitrakos, all from London.

The invention described in this application is capable of detecting malicious activity in a blockchain data structure through computer methods, including the process of generating transactions by creating transaction files and submitting them to the blockchain.

Causes of the attack

The application states that by obtaining enough computing power, an entity was able to control more than half of the mining resources in the blockchain, thereby achieving the purpose of launching a malicious attack. The attacker initiated a merchant payment transaction and mined a blockchain fork containing a double spending transaction.

Once the attacker controls more than half of the network computing power, the success rate of his attack will be 100%. Because in this case, the attacker generates blocks faster than the update speed of the entire network, so the forked chain he created can continue to exist and expand until it replaces the original orthodox network.

Other types of attacks that threaten blockchain networks include Sybil attacks, which are carried out by placing centrally controlled clients or pseudonymous miners in the miner network. DoS attacks (denial of service attacks) are also on the list. These attacks send a large amount of data to miners, causing their equipment to crash and eventually be unable to process transactions normally.

Striking attack phenomenon

The invention submitted by BT (a security component) can detect the above-mentioned attacks.

This security component can be a virtual or physical computer system, or an application or service in a computer system connected to the blockchain network. This security component can generate a data structure analysis tool for content storage in the blockchain.

This security component monitors the entire blockchain and ensures that the generation of profile transactions is consistent with the transaction file information. This process can improve the credibility of miners' verification and analysis tools.

If the analysis transaction is not generated in the blockchain on time, it cannot be verified and authenticated. The only reason for this can be the incorrect verification by the miners and the incorrect execution of the analysis tool stored in the blockchain.

The absence of one or more analytical transactions can trigger a warning of malicious activity. Remediation must then be taken, a process that includes generating alerts, sharing information with other participants in the blockchain system, terminating blockchain access, securing assets recorded in the blockchain, and transaction review.

Deployment

The program may be deployed via a programmable processing device controlled by software, such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a data processing apparatus or system, and the like.

The program may be in source code or object code state, or compiled directly into a processing device, apparatus or system.

The program is stored in a device-readable form on a carrier medium such as a solid-state memory, a magnetic storage such as a magnetic disk or tape, a laser disk, or a digital versatile disk.

Alternatively, the program can be controlled via a telecommunication medium such as electronic signals, radio carrier frequencies, or optical carrier frequencies.