Author: Eric Voskuil 2016-06-28 18:35:26
Published on: 2016-06-28T18:35:26+00:00
A discussion between Eric Voskuil and Peter Todd about a Bitcoin Improvement Proposal (BIP) has been shared, where Eric asks Peter about the possibility of detecting a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack in the proposal. Eric highlights three issues that can be caused by a MITM attack: transaction censorship, peer censorship, and fingerprinting. Encryption alone cannot protect against a MITM attack in an anonymous and permissionless network. However, Peter believes that detecting MITM attacks is a significant step forward, even if only a small subset of users are capable of detecting them. He believes that this detection will alert the wider community, who will respond with stronger security measures. Additionally, the probability of detection is a big disincentive for many types of attackers. Peter draws from the Snowden leaks, which revealed that the NSA tries hard to avoid tipping off targets to the fact that they're being surveilled as a proof.
Updated on: 2023-06-11T18:59:58.824218+00:00