From: Robert McKay <robert@mckay•com>
To: Matt Whitlock <bip@mattwhitlock•name>
Cc: bitcoin-development@lists•sourceforge.net
Subject: Re: [Bitcoin-development] "network disruption as a service" and proof of local storage
Date: Fri, 27 Mar 2015 15:32:13 +0000 [thread overview]
Message-ID: <af66c470d2072242338ed8b08e1fc644@webmail.mckay.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <2210650.iUsfZECcCc@crushinator>
The main motivation is to try and stop a single entity running lots of
nodes in order to harvest transaction origin IPs. That's what's behind
this.
Probably the efforts are a waste of time.. if someone has to keep a few
hundred copies of the blockchain around in order to keep IP specific
precomputed data around for all the IPs they listen on then they'll just
buy a handful of 5TB HDs and call it a day.. still some of the ideas
proposed are quite interesting and might not have much downside.
Rob
On 2015-03-27 15:16, Matt Whitlock wrote:
> I agree that someone could do this, but why is that a problem? Isn't
> the goal of this exercise to ensure more full nodes on the network?
> In
> order to be able to answer the challenges, an entity would need to be
> running a full node somewhere. Thus, they have contributed at least
> one additional full node to the network. I could certainly see a case
> for a company to host hundreds of lightweight (e.g., EC2) servers all
> backed by a single copy of the block chain. Why force every single
> machine to have its own copy? All you really need to require is that
> each agency/participant have its own copy.
>
>
> On Friday, 27 March 2015, at 2:32 pm, Robert McKay wrote:
>> Basically the problem with that is that someone could setup a single
>> full node that has the blockchain and can answer those challenges
>> and
>> then a bunch of other non-full nodes that just proxy any such
>> challenges
>> to the single full node.
>>
>> Rob
>>
>> On 2015-03-26 23:04, Matt Whitlock wrote:
>> > Maybe I'm overlooking something, but I've been watching this
>> thread
>> > with increasing skepticism at the complexity of the offered
>> solution.
>> > I don't understand why it needs to be so complex. I'd like to
>> offer
>> > an
>> > alternative for your consideration...
>> >
>> > Challenge:
>> > "Send me: SHA256(SHA256(concatenation of N pseudo-randomly
>> selected
>> > bytes from the block chain))."
>> >
>> > Choose N such that it would be infeasible for the responding node
>> to
>> > fetch all of the needed blocks in a short amount of time. In other
>> > words, assume that a node can seek to a given byte in a block
>> stored
>> > on local disk much faster than it can download the entire block
>> from
>> > a
>> > remote peer. This is almost certainly a safe assumption.
>> >
>> > For example, choose N = 1024. Then the proving node needs to
>> perform
>> > 1024 random reads from local disk. On spinning media, this is
>> likely
>> > to take somewhere on the order of 15 seconds. Assuming blocks are
>> > averaging 500 KiB each, then 1024 blocks would comprise 500 MiB of
>> > data. Can 500 MiB be downloaded in 15 seconds? This data transfer
>> > rate
>> > is 280 Mbps. Almost certainly not possible. And if it is, just
>> > increase N. The challenge also becomes more difficult as average
>> > block
>> > size increases.
>> >
>> > This challenge-response protocol relies on the lack of a "partial
>> > getdata" command in the Bitcoin protocol: a node cannot ask for
>> only
>> > part of a block; it must ask for an entire block. Furthermore,
>> nodes
>> > could ban other nodes for making too many random requests for
>> blocks.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Thursday, 26 March 2015, at 7:09 pm, Sergio Lerner wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > If I understand correctly, transforming raw blocks to keyed
>> blocks
>> >> > takes 512x longer than transforming keyed blocks back to raw.
>> The
>> >> key
>> >> > is public, like the IP, or some other value which perhaps
>> changes
>> >> less
>> >> > frequently.
>> >> >
>> >> Yes. I was thinking that the IP could be part of a first layer of
>> >> encryption done to the blockchain data prior to the asymetric
>> >> operation.
>> >> That way the asymmetric operation can be the same for all users
>> (no
>> >> different primers for different IPs, and then the verifiers does
>> not
>> >> have to verify that a particular p is actually a pseudo-prime
>> >> suitable
>> >> for P.H. ) and the public exponent can be just 3.
>> >>
>> >> >
>> >> >> Two protocols can be performed to prove local possession:
>> >> >> 1. (prover and verifier pay a small cost) The verifier sends a
>> >> seed to
>> >> >> derive some n random indexes, and the prover must respond with
>> >> the hash
>> >> >> of the decrypted blocks within a certain time bound. Suppose
>> that
>> >> >> decryption of n blocks take 100 msec (+-100 msec of network
>> >> jitter).
>> >> >> Then an attacker must have a computer 50 faster to be able to
>> >> >> consistently cheat. The last 50 blocks should not be part of
>> the
>> >> list to
>> >> >> allow nodes to catch-up and encrypt the blocks in background.
>> >> >>
>> >> >
>> >> > Can you clarify, the prover is hashing random blocks of
>> >> *decrypted*,
>> >> > as-in raw, blockchain data? What does this prove other than,
>> >> perhaps,
>> >> > fast random IO of the blockchain? (which is useful in its own
>> >> right,
>> >> > e.g. as a way to ensure only full-node IO-bound mining if baked
>> >> into
>> >> > the PoW)
>> >> >
>> >> > How is the verifier validating the response without possession
>> of
>> >> the
>> >> > full blockchain?
>> >>
>> >> You're right, It is incorrect. Not the decrypted blocks must be
>> >> sent,
>> >> but the encrypted blocks. There correct protocol is this:
>> >>
>> >> 1. (prover and verifier pay a small cost) The verifier sends a
>> seed
>> >> to
>> >> derive some n random indexes, and the prover must respond with
>> the
>> >> the
>> >> encrypted blocks within a certain time bound. The verifier
>> decrypts
>> >> those blocks to check if they are part of the block-chain.
>> >>
>> >> But then there is this improvement which allows the verifier do
>> >> detect
>> >> non full-nodes with much less computation:
>> >>
>> >> 3. (prover pays a small cost, verifier smaller cost) The verifier
>> >> asks
>> >> the prover to send a Merkle tree root of hashes of encrypted
>> blocks
>> >> with
>> >> N indexes selected by a psudo-random function seeded by a
>> challenge
>> >> value, where each encrypted-block is previously prefixed with the
>> >> seed
>> >> before being hashed (e.g. N=100). The verifier receives the
>> Markle
>> >> Root
>> >> and performs a statistical test on the received information. From
>> >> the N
>> >> hashes blocks, it chooses M < N (e.g. M = 20), and asks the
>> proved
>> >> for
>> >> the blocks at these indexes. The prover sends the blocks, the
>> >> verifier
>> >> validates the blocks by decrypting them and also verifies that
>> the
>> >> Merkle tree was well constructed for those block nodes. This
>> proves
>> >> with
>> >> high probability that the Merkle tree was built on-the-fly and
>> >> specifically for this challenge-response protocol.
>> >>
>> >> > I also wonder about the effect of spinning disk versus SSD.
>> Seek
>> >> time
>> >> > for 1,000 random reads is either nearly zero or dominating
>> >> depending
>> >> > on the two modes. I wonder if a sequential read from a random
>> >> index is
>> >> > a possible trade-off,; it doesn't prove possession of the whole
>> >> chain
>> >> > nearly as well, but at least iowait converges significantly.
>> Then
>> >> > again, that presupposes a specific ordering on disk which might
>> >> not
>> >> > exist. In X years it will all be solid-state, so eventually
>> it's
>> >> moot.
>> >> >
>> >> Good idea.
>> >>
>> >> Also we don't need that every node implements the protocol, but
>> only
>> >> nodes that want to prove full-node-ness, such as the ones which
>> want
>> >> to
>> >> receive bitnodes subsidy.
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> >
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> > Dive into the World of Parallel Programming The Go Parallel
>> Website,
>> > sponsored
>> > by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your
>> > hub for all
>> > things parallel software development, from weekly thought
>> leadership
>> > blogs to
>> > news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and
>> join
>> > the
>> > conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net/
>> > _______________________________________________
>> > Bitcoin-development mailing list
>> > Bitcoin-development@lists•sourceforge.net
>> > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> Dive into the World of Parallel Programming The Go Parallel Website,
>> sponsored
>> by Intel and developed in partnership with Slashdot Media, is your
>> hub for all
>> things parallel software development, from weekly thought leadership
>> blogs to
>> news, videos, case studies, tutorials and more. Take a look and join
>> the
>> conversation now. http://goparallel.sourceforge.net/
>> _______________________________________________
>> Bitcoin-development mailing list
>> Bitcoin-development@lists•sourceforge.net
>> https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bitcoin-development
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2015-03-27 15:31 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 23+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2015-03-13 20:01 [Bitcoin-development] Criminal complaints against "network disruption as a service" startups Justus Ranvier
2015-03-13 21:48 ` Mike Hearn
2015-03-13 22:03 ` Justus Ranvier
2015-03-13 22:08 ` Mike Hearn
2015-03-13 22:16 ` Justus Ranvier
2015-03-13 22:24 ` Mike Hearn
2015-03-13 22:38 ` Justus Ranvier
2015-03-16 8:44 ` Jan Møller
2015-03-16 16:29 ` [Bitcoin-development] "network disruption as a service" and proof of local storage Sergio Lerner
2015-03-24 5:14 ` Jeremy Spilman
2015-03-26 22:09 ` Sergio Lerner
2015-03-26 23:04 ` Matt Whitlock
2015-03-27 14:32 ` Robert McKay
2015-03-27 15:16 ` Matt Whitlock
2015-03-27 15:32 ` Robert McKay [this message]
[not found] ` <20150327155730.GB20754@amethyst.visucore.com>
2015-03-27 16:00 ` Matt Whitlock
2015-03-27 16:08 ` Matt Whitlock
2015-03-27 18:40 ` Jeremy Spilman
2015-04-01 2:34 ` Sergio Lerner
2015-03-16 19:33 ` [Bitcoin-development] Criminal complaints against "network disruption as a service" startups Aaron Voisine
2015-03-23 2:44 ` odinn
2015-03-23 10:06 [Bitcoin-development] "network disruption as a service" and proof of local storage Thy Shizzle
2015-03-28 2:55 Thy Shizzle
Reply instructions:
You may reply publicly to this message via plain-text email
using any one of the following methods:
* Save the following mbox file, import it into your mail client,
and reply-to-all from there: mbox
Avoid top-posting and favor interleaved quoting:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Interleaved_style
* Reply using the --to, --cc, and --in-reply-to
switches of git-send-email(1):
git send-email \
--in-reply-to=af66c470d2072242338ed8b08e1fc644@webmail.mckay.com \
--to=robert@mckay$(echo .)com \
--cc=bip@mattwhitlock$(echo .)name \
--cc=bitcoin-development@lists$(echo .)sourceforge.net \
/path/to/YOUR_REPLY
https://kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/docs/git-send-email.html
Be sure your reply has a Subject: header at the top and a blank line
before the message body.
This is a public inbox, see mirroring instructions
for how to clone and mirror all data and code used for this inbox