The main problem I see with this is that you would have to have each client in the botnet sync with the Bitcoin network. This is a lengthy task and results in gigs of data.
Hardly inconspicuous.
But I like the idea.
A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
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Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#32So something I've been wondering about with all the talk around The Pirate Bay recently is why aren't people using the blockchain to store data needed to bootstrap your joining of a decentralised network. It could be as simple as storing the magnet links themselves.
Ha! I just recently came across this discussion on the MaidSafe forums. There are talks of doing this to bootstrap the network: https://www.maidsafe.org/t/bootstrapping-the-safe-network-vi...
Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#33is this a published paper? O_o
I suspect it's a student project, maybe done for a class at UCSC. The two authors worked together on another project [1], as students at UCSC, in the Spring 2013 semester.
[1] http://news.ucsc.edu/2013/06/entrepreneurship-showcase.html
Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#34So something I've been wondering about with all the talk around The Pirate Bay recently is why aren't people using the blockchain to store data needed to bootstrap your joining of a decentralised network. It could be as simple as storing the magnet links themselves.
On the Bitcoin blockchain, you can't fit a magnet link in the very small amount of data you're allowed to include in a transaction. You could split them across multiple transactions, but that leads into the second problem: It's not entirely clear how you'd make a directory so people could actually find these torrents. As more general-purpose blockchains come out (Ethereum, for one example), this will get easier.
"All problems in computer science can be solved by another level of indirection"
Since you can easily fit the Magnet hash in an OP_RETURN value, all required is to move the torrent's description (title, description, categories, magnet URL) into a torrent of its own. Indexers find the first hash via the blockchain, use it to fetch the full torrent description via DHT, which in turn allows it to find the torrent via the magnet URL (or alternatively, includes the .torrent file directly, but this trades network efficiency for hosting overhead)
To speed up bootstrapping new indexers, occasionally "rollup" descriptions could be published, which are just torrents that aggregate a large number of descriptions (bucketed say, by date, DHT swarm size, or similar). Add an identifier and public key to these roll-up releases, and you effectively have a trusted "channel" - one guy or group with editorial control over the index they publish, and magically you have something very close to ThePirateBay again.
Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#35really? a pdf with drop shadow on every word? if you didn't want me to read it, just say so.
Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#36So something I've been wondering about with all the talk around The Pirate Bay recently is why aren't people using the blockchain to store data needed to bootstrap your joining of a decentralised network. It could be as simple as storing the magnet links themselves.
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Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#37The main problem I see with this is that you would have to have each client in the botnet sync with the Bitcoin network. This is a lengthy task and results in gigs of data. Hardly inconspicuous. But I like the idea.
You don't need the entire blockchain for this.
And new blocks are "only" ~400KB in size - at 1/10min, that's less than 700B/s. (Of course, it'll be more in practice. But still, not much.)
Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#38Haha, I had the same idea. The since (valid) transactions are passed freely to all nodes in the Bitcoin network, one can just use the network as a signed messaging platform. You don't need to query blockchain.info, all you need is a Bitcoin client that listens for incoming transactions. I've been writing an implementation on and off for a while now. The general idea is as follows: The botnet client connects to "n" Bi…
> You don't even have to use transactions ("tx" messages), you can use the block messages if you are willing to tolerate an (on average) 10 minute delay Does this mean you can send messages without transfering bitcoin from one account to another?
The term is "address". There are no accounts in the Bitcoin network.
Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#39Author here! I'm surprised to see this up on HN, I checked the front page, and here it was. This was written for a computer security class, and definitely hasn't been proofread yet. If anyone has any questions, I can answer anything you like.
Re: A Novel Approach For Computer Worm Control Using Decentralized Data Structures
#40is this a published paper? O_o
It is not. I wrote this for a computer security class, and the paper itself was (unfortunately) last minute. I posted it to reddit last night as an afterthought, found it here in the morning. I'm sorry if it isn't up to any sort of standards, this draft was rushed, and I wasn't expecting it to get any sort of traction.