IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - January/February 2024 - 100

Privacy-Aware Emerging Computing
network. Through a decentralized edge-computing
system, blockchain can additionally generate
seamless unification between applications, which
also dramatically diminishes the complexity of
interaction.
Blockchain for Computation
Blockchain technology empowers the task execution
process of collaborative information systems,
including untrusted individuals, without
claiming a principal authority. Precisely, a collaborative
model comprising tasks completed by multiple
edge devices/entities can be organized via smart
contracts running on the blockchain.9 In this way,
data security is also intensified in edge devices.
On the other hand, all such advanced technologies
must be secured and trusted before
they are fully functional. Specifically, blockchain
security threads in edge networks become a bottleneck
for the next-generation edge-computing
revolution. In the following, we briefly introduce
different security threats affecting edge-centric
IoT networks.
BLOCKCHAIN SECURITY THREADS IN
EDGE-CENTRIC IOT NETWORKS
Technology brings new risks, many of which
are not well recognized if they are not identified
at all. Mining, networking, and smart contracts
are three critical steps in the blockchain process
where potential security threats are quite significant
to the overall system.10 Variations of different
blockchain-based security threats are also
illustrated in Figure 3.
Mining Threats
A blockchain attack by a collection of attackers
with over 50% of the network's mining hash rate.
Attackers who control the network can stop new
blocks from being recorded by stopping other
miners from completing blocks. To ensure mutual
trust, the blockchain has a distributed consensus
mechanismas an underlying characteristic.
Selfish Mining In " Selfish Mining, " a fraudulent
attacker poses as a reputable miner but does not
share its results with the rest of the network,
whereas a greedy attacker tries to persuade
other reputable miners to waste their energy for
no reason.
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FIGURE 3. Different security threats in edge
networks.
Block-Withholding Attack A block-withholding
attack occurs when an attacker discovers a
legitimate block but decides to ignore it instead
of submitting it.
>50% Attack The blockchain is built on a
solid foundation, namely that the network is controlled
by trustworthy nodes. This form of attack
is achievable when an attacker has control over
more than half of the network users.
Networks Threats
Rather than quietly gathering information for
financial gain or espionage, some threats are aimed
at disrupting an organization's operations. Denial
of service attacks are the most common method.
These attacks put a strain on network resources,
including web and email gateways, routers, and
switches, among other things.
Distributed Denial of Service Attack
(DDoS) A DDoS assault is a criminal endeavor to
interrupt a server, service, or network by flooding
it with Internet traffic. DDoS assaults include UDP
flooding, SYN flooding, and DNS amplification.
Blockchain networks are more complex to assault
than client-server networks. A DDoS assault on
the network or application layers is still possible.
While a network DDoS assault blocks physical
blocks, and application, DDoS attack damages a
server by demolishing all of its sources.
Sybil Attack The Sybil assault involves creating
uniqueness in peer-to-peer networks to
undermine a reputation system. Bots and hostile
actors can manipulate social navigation systems
by simulating phony GPS information.
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IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - January/February 2024

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