Analysis and Probing of Parallel Channels in the Lightning Network

BIRYUKOV, Alexei; Naumenko, Gleb; TIKHOMIROV, Sergei

doi:10.1007/978-3-031-18283-9_16

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Analysis and Probing of Parallel Channels in the Lightning Network

BIRYUKOV, Alexei; Naumenko, Gleb; TIKHOMIROV, Sergei

2022 • In inancial Cryptography and Data Security - 26th International Conference, FC 2022

Peer reviewed

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https://hdl.handle.net/10993/48066

DOI
10.1007/978-3-031-18283-9_16

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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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