"Cryptocurrencies: Shared Irresponsibility"

Information Technology security is of utmost importance when using cryptocurrencies. Ultimately, money, like other data, is susceptible to cyberattacks. Professor Ghassan Karame, head of the Chair for Information Security at Ruhr University Bochum, is exploring the security of various cryptocurrencies. He advocates for decentralized platforms, such as those on which cryptocurrencies are based. Karame explains that in decentralized platforms, unlike a bank, power is not centralized in a single entity. Instead, decisions are made by the majority of users. According to Karame, the two advantages of decentralized platforms are that it is difficult for a central body to impose censorship, and they are resilient against faults and misbehavior because a large community of developers monitors the technology. However, cryptocurrencies are vulnerable to security breaches like every other IT technology. As early as 2012, Karame and his team identified a critical flaw in the Bitcoin system that allowed people to spend the same Bitcoins many times to pay for different transactions. In 2015, Karame and his collaborators identified another critical vulnerability after Bitcoin's system was modified to accommodate more users. They demonstrated that if they controlled as few as tens of laptops in the system, they could halt the flow of information throughout the entire Bitcoin system. Bitcoin has long since resolved both of these security issues. This article continues to discuss security vulnerabilities associated with cryptocurrencies.

Ruhr University Bochum reports "Cryptocurrencies: Shared Irresponsibility"