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Improving the Security and Performance of Ethereum Blockchain Transactions: A Decentralised Autonomous Organisations Model

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Mollajafari, Sepideh (2024) Improving the Security and Performance of Ethereum Blockchain Transactions: A Decentralised Autonomous Organisations Model. PhD thesis, University of Gloucestershire. doi:10.46289/ZFHX1698

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14679 Sepideh Mollajafari (2024) Improving the Security and Performance of Ethereum Blockchain Transactions_.pdf - Accepted Version
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Official URL: https://eprints.glos.ac.uk/14679/

Abstract

Blockchain technology has recently received a great deal of attention from industry and academia due to its apparent benefits. From the initial foundation based on cryptocurrency to the development of smart contracts, Blockchain technology continues to promise significant business benefits for various industry sectors. Notwithstanding its known benefits, and despite having some protective measures and security features, this technology still faces significant security challenges within its different abstract layers. This work focuses on the critical cybersecurity threats and vulnerabilities inherent to the different layers of the Blockchain architecture, with a view to mitigate against the associated risks. From the perspective of architectural layering, each layer of the Blockchain has its own corresponding security issues. In this work, a seven-layer architecture is used, whereby the various components of each layer are set out, highlighting the related security risks and corresponding countermeasures. A taxonomy is then developed, that establishes the inter-relationships between the vulnerabilities and attacks in a smart contract. A specific emphasis is placed on the issues caused by centralisation within smart contracts, whereby a “one-owner” controls access, thus threatening the very decentralised nature that Blockchain is based upon. Smart contracts with centralised ownership pose major security issues and act as a single point of failure, allowing single individuals, or teams, to have complete control over the Blockchain network. To mitigate against the risks associated with centralised control, decentralised autonomous organisations (DAOs) promote a decentralised decision-making process whereby the power of decision-making is distributed and therefore preventing smart contract ownership monopoly. The main contribution of this thesis is the development of a novel automated decentralised application, “Genuine DAO”, that promises to reduce security risks and improve the performance of Blockchain networks. “Genuine DAO” achieves the reduction in security risks by enforcing automated rules that are encoded in smart contracts thus reinforcing the community-based governance and minimising the threats inherent to centralisation, which can be caused by smart contracts’ owners/developers. Additionally, “Genuine DAO” strengthens the security of the network by guarding against the threats caused by Frontrunning attacks. Three further contributions emanate from this work. The first one is an improvement of the overall performance of the Blockchain network, through gas optimisation, cost reduction, and network throughput. This is achieved by using a Polygon layer 2 scaling solution built on the Ethereum network. The second one is the development of a general taxonomy that compiles the different vulnerabilities, the types of attacks, and the related countermeasures within each of the seven layers of the Blockchain. The third one stems from a deep dive into one layer of the Blockchain namely, the Contract Layer. A model application is developed depicting, in detail, the security risks within the Contract Layer, while enlisting the best practices and tools to adopt in order to mitigate against these risks. The understanding gained from delving into the details of security risks within the Contract Layer reinforced the need for developing countermeasures to alleviate the security risks and vulnerabilities inherent to one-owner control in smart contracts, which ultimately led to the main contribution of this work: Genuine DAO.

Item Type:

Thesis (PhD)

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