Blockchain and Bitcoin Security

Abstract

Launched in 2008, blockchain technology with a typical product of Bitcoin is being applied and has great development potential in many areas such as finance, trade, manufacturing, and telecommunications. Bitcoin as a popular cryptocurrency with the highest total market capitalization of the virtual money market has always been an attractive target for hackers. In this chapter, we focus on attack and security on blockchain technology. In the first section, some targeted attacks on Bitcoins will be repeated. In the next section, we present potential attack techniques on blockchain technology in general and Bitcoin in particular, such as double-spending attack technique on mining pool or Bitcoin network. The general security solutions for block-chain will be presented in the next section. Besides, we devote a section to presenting the issue of how to secure wallets and Bitcoin transactions for those who use this virtual currency. The summary and discussion of future security orientation for blockchain technology will be presented at the end of the chapter.