FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE: THE ROLE OF CRYPTOGRAPHY IN SECURING BLOCKCHAIN NETWORKS

Milan Feltovic

Abstract


Blockchain technology has evolved from its origins in cryptocurrencies to become a fundamental component of secure digital interactions across diverse sectors, including healthcare, finance, and public administration. This article delves into the theoretical and practical applications of cryptography within blockchain networks, emphasizing key cryptographic functions, algorithms, and protocols such as RSA, elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), and SHA-256. It scrutinizes the use of digital signatures for transaction verification and the crucial role of hash functions in ensuring data integrity. Additionally, the article presents practical examples of symmetric and asymmetric encryption methods, underscoring their significance in maintaining privacy and security. The study also highlights the emerging challenges posed by quantum computing and explores ongoing research in post-quantum cryptography. Furthermore, it provides insights into the advancements in cryptographic techniques essential for the robustness of decentralized networks. By linking theoretical frameworks with practical implementations, this article aims to offer a comprehensive understanding of the cryptographic security measures pivotal for the future of blockchain technology.


Keywords


Elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), RSA algorithm, SHA-256, proof-of-work, digital signature, post-quantum cryptography, cryptographic protocol.

Full Text:

PDF

References


Aamir, B. (2019, Mar 25). P Vs NP Problem In A Nutshell. Retrieved from Medium: https://medium.com/@bilalaamir/p-vs-np-problem-in-a-nutshell-dbf08133bec5

Antonopoulos, A. M. (2014). Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking digital cryptocurrencies. O'Reilly Media, Inc.

Boehme, R., Christin, N., Edelman, B., & Moore, T. (2015). Bitcoin: Economics, technology, and governance. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 29(2), 213-238. Retrieved from https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/jep.29.2.213

Bonneau, J., Miller, A., Clark, J., Narayanan, A., Kroll, J. A., & Felten, E. W. (2015). SoK: Research perspectives and challenges for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, (pp. 104-121). Retrieved from https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7163021

Briggs, M. E. (1998). An introduction to the general number field sieve. Blacksburg, Virginia: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Retrieved from https://vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/handle/10919/36618

Buterin, V. (2024, Mar 14). Ethereum Whitepaper. Retrieved Jul 03, 2024, from Ethereum.org: https://ethereum.org/en/whitepaper/

Camilamacedo86. (2018, Jan 19). What is the Big-O? Retrieved from Dev4Devs.com: https://dev4devs.com/2018/01/19/understanding-the-big-o-how-to-think-to-develop-good-and-fast-and-performatic-solutions/

Cormen, T. H., Leiserson, C. E., Rivest, R. L., & Stein, C. (2022). Introduction to algorithms (4th ed.). Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.

Courtois, N. T., Emirdag, P., & Valsorda, F. (2014). Private key recovery combination attacks: On extreme fragility of popular bitcoin key management wallet and cold storage solutions in presence of poor RNG events. Retrieved from Cryptology ePrint Archive, Paper 2014/848: https://eprint.iacr.org/2014/848

Decker, C., & Wattenhofer, R. (2014). Bitcoin transaction malleability and MtGox. European Symposium on Research in Computer Security (pp. 313-326). Cham: Springer. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11212-1_18

Durumeric, Z., Li, F., Kasten, J., Amann, J., Beekman, J., Payer, M., & Halderman, J. A. (2014). The matter of heartbleed. Proceedings of the 2014 Conference on Internet Measurement Conference, (pp. 475-488). doi:10.1145/2663716.2663755

Koblitz, N., Menezes, A., & Vanstone, S. (2000, Mar). The state of elliptic curve cryptography. Designs, Codes and Cryptography, 19, 173-193. doi:10.1023/A:1008354106356

n.d. (2008, Jun 03). Secret Bits: How Codes Became Unbreakable. Retrieved from infirmIT: https://www.informit.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1218422

n.d. (2011, Spring). Formal languages, Automata and Computation: Turing Machines. Retrieved from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar: https://www.andrew.cmu.edu/user/ko/pdfs/lecture-13.pdf

Nakamoto, S. (2009). Bitcoin - A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System. Retrieved from https://bitcoin.org/bitcoin.pdf

Narayanan, A., Bonneau, J., Felten, E., Miller, A., & Goldfeder, S. (2016). Bitcoin and cryptocurrency technologies: A comprehensive introduction. Princeton University Press.

Rolland, R. (2015). Randomness in cryptography. In Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Springer. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-18275-9_20

Shor, P. W. (1999). Polynomial-time algorithms for prime factorization and discrete logarithms on a quantum computer. SIAM Review, 41(2), 303-332. doi:10.1137/s0036144598347011

Stormhub. (2023, 05 09). The cryptographic hash function SHA-256 MAII - FIB. Retrieved Jul 03, 2024, from helix.stormhub.org: https://helix.stormhub.org/papers/SHA-256.pdf

Wiki. (2019, Apr 24). Secp256k1. Retrieved from bitcoin.it: https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Secp256k1

Wikipedia. (2022B, Jun 27). Public-key cryptography. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public-key_cryptography

Wikipedia. (2024, Jun 25). Trapdoor function. Retrieved from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapdoor_function

Zohar, A. (2015). Bitcoin: Under the hood. Communications of the ACM, 58(9), 104-113. Retrieved from https://cacm.acm.org/research/bitcoin/


Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.