Mastering Blockchain - Second Edition

Security

Even though blockchains are generally secure and make use of asymmetric and symmetric cryptography as required throughout the blockchain network, there still are few caveats that can result in compromising the security of the blockchain.

There are a few examples of transaction malleability, eclipse attacks, and the possibility of double spending in bitcoin that, in certain scenarios, have been shown to work by various researchers. Transaction malleability opens up the possibility of double withdrawal or deposit by allowing a hacker to change a transaction's unique ID before the Bitcoin network can confirm it, resulting in a scenario where it would seem that transactions did not occur. BIP 62 is one of the proposals along with SegWit ...