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Analysis and Probing of Parallel Channels in the Lightning Network
BIRYUKOV, Alexei; Naumenko, Gleb; TIKHOMIROV, Sergei
2022In inancial Cryptography and Data Security - 26th International Conference, FC 2022
Peer reviewed
 

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Keywords :
Bitcoin; Lightning Network; privacy; payment channels
Abstract :
[en] Bitcoin can process only a few transactions per second, which is insufficient for a global payment network. The Lightning Network (LN) aims to address this challenge. The LN allows for low-latency bitcoin transfers through a network of payment channels. In contrast to regular Bitcoin transactions, payments in the LN are not globally broadcast. Thus it may improve not only Bitcoin's scalability but also privacy. However, the probing attack allows an adversary to discover channel balances, threatening users' privacy. Prior work on probing did not account for the possibility of multiple (parallel) channels between two nodes. Naive probing algorithms yield false results for parallel channels. In this work, we develop a new probing model that accurately accounts for parallel channels. We describe jamming-enhanced probing that allows for full balance information extraction in multi-channel hops, which was impossible with earlier probing methods. We quantify the attacker's information gain and propose an optimized algorithm for choosing probe amounts for N-channel hops. We demonstrate its efficiency based on real-world data using our own probing-focused LN simulator. Finally, we discuss countermeasures such as new forwarding strategies, intra-hop payment split, rebalancing, and unannounced channels.
Research center :
Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) > CryptoLUX
Disciplines :
Computer science
Author, co-author :
BIRYUKOV, Alexei ;  University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Department of Computer Science (DCS) ; SnT
Naumenko, Gleb
TIKHOMIROV, Sergei ;  University of Luxembourg > Faculty of Science, Technology and Medicine (FSTM) > Cryptolux
External co-authors :
yes
Language :
English
Title :
Analysis and Probing of Parallel Channels in the Lightning Network
Publication date :
02 May 2022
Event name :
Financial Cryptography and Data Security 2022
Event date :
May 2-6, 2022
Audience :
International
Main work title :
inancial Cryptography and Data Security - 26th International Conference, FC 2022
Publisher :
Springer
ISBN/EAN :
978-3-031-18282-2
Peer reviewed :
Peer reviewed
Focus Area :
Security, Reliability and Trust
FnR Project :
FNR11684537 - Security, Scalability, And Privacy In Blockchain Applications And Smart Contracts, 2017 (01/08/2018-31/07/2021) - Alex Biryukov
Name of the research project :
FinCrypt
Funders :
FNR - Fonds National de la Recherche
Available on ORBilu :
since 17 September 2021

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