Mining Cryptosystems
The Mining Cryptosystems project is an initiative by the Information Security Research Centre (ISRC), a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing computing. In 2021, the project managers were asked to develop a new process for mining cryptosystems, specifically ‘hash’ functions. The Hash function concept is not very new. But, the concept of ‘proof of work’ used in this new process was completely novel and required a novel solution, which is why the ISRC group asked the University of Cambridge Internet Research Association for assistance. The researchers at the University of Cambridge turned out to be the ideal team for this new mining effort because they are expert cryptographers who had worked on problems related to key storage, proof of work, and digital signatures.
When the researchers started their new process for mining, they knew that they wanted to use a new technique called ‘hash mining’. For those not familiar with the term, hash functions are used in computer programming languages such as C++, Ruby, PHP, and Python in order to construct highly efficient cryptosystems. This new process was based on ideas conceived by the members of the academic community, all of whom recognized that the traditional cryptosystem model was too weak to meet the needs of modern researchers. The problem was that the traditional cryptosystem model was based on the assumption that users would choose a unique key and then use that key to encrypt the data they intended to send over the network.
However, no one ‘wants’ to choose a single key to encrypt their data – we all want our information to be encrypted. As a result, the old algorithm relied on randomly choosing a key from a known set of keys (known as ‘public keys’), which in turn, also had to be generated using a random number generator. This method carried significant risks of collisions and delayed encryption transactions. Furthermore, since the key used in the generation of the public key was completely random, it could easily be copied by anyone.
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Newer techniques for the generation of public keys called ‘pubkey’ and ‘derivation’ methods gained popularity in the early nineties. These new techniques however were much too complicated for most users and so they went back to the tried and tested method of randomly generating keys from a known binary tree. The main advantage of this method is that it is much more efficient than the older model. However, there is also an obvious disadvantage – the use of scarce and expensive finite resources, like time and space in trying to maintain the network.
The main threat of a network of users mining the same system is called a ‘Byzantine Generation Attack’. This attack is initiated by two users who learn about each other and decide to cooperate to defraud the network. They first try to divide the network into two groups. They then try to communicate with each other using a secret messaging protocol. If they successfully split the network and gain control over a portion of it, they can alter the state of the network and continue to manipulate parts of it while the other group takes the rest back. This means that the system depends on two independent sources for it operation and it can be pretty costly to secure.
Mining a cryptosystem however is not without its dangers. Mining is usually done by inexperienced users and they do not have enough knowledge to take on the complex attacks. Also, it can take a long time before a working system is released. In cases when a working network has to be launched immediately due to some problems, this can cause major inconveniences. So if you are interested in developing a mining system or simply want to mine for your own needs, be sure to check the risks involved.