{"id":186283,"date":"2018-10-24T11:05:25","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T15:05:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/five-successful-51-percent-attacks-have-earned-cryptocurrency-hackers-20-million-in-2018\/186283"},"modified":"2021-08-06T08:06:04","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T12:06:04","slug":"five-successful-51-percent-attacks-have-earned-cryptocurrency-hackers-20-million-in-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/news\/five-successful-51-percent-attacks-have-earned-cryptocurrency-hackers-20-million-in-2018","title":{"rendered":"Five Successful 51 Percent Attacks Have Earned Cryptocurrency Hackers $20 Million in 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

According to trusted cybersecurity firm Group-IB, 51 percent attacks on cryptocurrency projects are on the rise. Thus far in 2018, the firm has tracked 5 successful 51 percent attacks, with hackers claiming almost $20 million in profits, The Next Web<\/em> reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This is the first time we have seen a series of 51 percent attacks in crypto. Group-IB could not find a report of a single instance of a 51 percent in 2017. The full Group-IB report reveals that the total $19.5 million stolen from unsuspecting cryptocurrency projects this year largely took place between April and June.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest threats to traditional blockchain networks, a 51 percent attack occurs when a single entity takes control of over 50 percent of the overall mining power in a Proof-of-Work (PoW) blockchain<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u00a0can be either carried out by one miner with a large number of computers or a group of miners forming a mining pool,\u201d Group-IB told\u00a0The Next Web<\/em>. \u201cControl over 51-precent [sic] of the network power itself is not necessarily an attack \u2014 unless there has been intentional use of this advantage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once control over a network\u2019s hashrate is achieved, hackers can wreak havoc by stopping transaction verifications, suspending mining, and preventing other miners from verifying transactions. A 51 percent attack also highlights one of the biggest risks in digital money systems: double-spending.<\/p>\n

Double spending is the process by which a single digital token can be spent more than once. It is in many ways similar to creating counterfeit money. In the case of a 51 percent attack, hackers can create entirely unique blockchains, hidden from view, wherein they can freely verify false transactions. Group-IB told\u00a0The Next Web<\/em> that this is the greatest threat to PoW blockchains.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is possible to double spend even without controlling this much network power,\u201d Group-IB explains. \u201cHowever, control over 51-percent is an absolute guarantee that the fraudster\u2019s block is recognized as correct.\u201d<\/p>\n

51 Percent Attacks in 2018<\/strong><\/h3>\n

In 2018, hackers successfully attacked and subsequently crippled a number of small altcoin projects. A bug in Verge was used by hackers in both April and May to cash out more than a million dollars worth of cryptocurrency, while at the same time refusing to process other token holder transactions.<\/p>\n

In June, Zen cryptocurrency lost $550,000 through a 51 percent attack that lasted only 4 hours. A similar attack happened to Litecoin Cash later that month.<\/p>\n

However, the biggest attack this year was on Bitcoin Gold, which lost 388,000 BTG<\/a> ($18 million) in May after a \u201cmalicious miner\u201d took control of the BTG network. The attack quickly resulted in US-based exchange Bittrex<\/a> delisting\u00a0Bitcoin Gold from its exchange due to security concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cCybercriminals can get high rewards and steal lots of money by attacking small and unknown cryptocurrencies,\u201d a Group-IB spokesperson told Hard Fork<\/em>. \u201cIt is just technically easier to compromise relatively unknown cryptocurrencies, which usually do not have the capacity for the rapid response necessary to stop the\u00a0attacker converting stolen funds to a more stable currency.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Next Web<\/em> reports that planning a 51 percent attack requires a large investment on the part of hackers. These funds are usually garnered from traditional mining rewards. In the case of the ZenCash attack, hackers needed at least $30,000 to snatch the over half million dollars from the attack.<\/p>\n

A website specializing in how much it would cost hackers to execute 51 percent attacks on some of the biggest crypto networks reveals some shocking statistics. According to crypto51.app<\/a>, an attacker could take control of the Bitcoin hashrate for an hour for only $530,000 and Ethereum for just $150,000.<\/p>\n

Group-IB recommends that the best defense for smaller crypto projects wanting to protect themselves against a 51 percent attack is to use encryption algorithms not typically adopted by large virtual currencies.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis would allow to avoid the scenario where a mining pool is compromised and has negative effects on other cryptocurrencies that use the same algorithms,\u201d Group-IB concludes.<\/p>\n

The post Five Successful 51 Percent Attacks Have Earned Cryptocurrency Hackers $20 Million in 2018<\/a> appeared first on UNHASHED<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to trusted cybersecurity firm Group-IB, 51 percent attacks on cryptocurrency projects are on the rise. Thus far in 2018, the firm has tracked 5 […]<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":1316,"featured_media":186286,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-more-crypto-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFive Successful 51 Percent Attacks Have Earned Cryptocurrency Hackers $20 Million in 2018 - InsideBitcoins.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"According to cybersecurity firm Group-IB, 51 percent attacks on crypto projects are rising, with hackers earning $20 million this year.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186283\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five Successful 51 Percent Attacks Have Earned Cryptocurrency Hackers $20 Million in 2018\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"According to cybersecurity firm Group-IB, 51 percent attacks on crypto projects are rising, with hackers earning $20 million this year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"InsideBitcoins.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-10-24T15:05:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-06T12:06:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_680078968-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1154\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jacob Godshall\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jacob Godshall\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186283#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186283\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jacob Godshall\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#\/schema\/person\/23fded23d5ae1622d9eb517e4d3334f9\"},\"headline\":\"Five Successful 51 Percent Attacks Have Earned Cryptocurrency Hackers $20 Million in 2018\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-10-24T15:05:25+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-06T12:06:04+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186283\"},\"wordCount\":662,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186283#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/shutterstock_680078968-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"More Crypto News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"copyrightYear\":\"2018\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186283\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/insidebitcoins.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186283\",\"name\":\"Five Successful 51 Percent Attacks Have Earned Cryptocurrency Hackers $20 Million in 2018 - 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