Are the attackers on again?
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Saying that it was unsuccessful is like saying that the US lost the Vietnam war: Your correct.
Now let’s examine the casualties:
[list]
[*]They succeeded in artificially lowering difficulty, bringing in hash power too fast.
[*]They DDoS’ed the major pools. Pool payouts were crippled. Miners were disenfranchised.
[*]We’re now stuck back in a difficulty trap for the next few days.
[*]The flaw has gotten so much exposure that Feathercoin is being made an example of in the media, losing it’s credibility.
[*]The attacker made off with a bunch of coins.
[*]The price on the exchanges inflated, then crashed back to it’s normal support line over the course of 48 hours.
[*]Exchanges reacted by raising confirmations to 100 because the exploit is ready to go again and they don’t want to be caught holding the difference. This actually changes nothing, since the attacker could use their hashpower to mine a 101+ block chain fairly easily.
[*]Web sites for calculating difficulty had to take it off their lists.
[*]The problem is considered so serious, all marketing efforts are being put on hold in order to address this problem.
[*]The exploit is ready to go again.
[*]A solution to the problem has not been agreed upon (yet).
[/list]All of this amounts to NOT GOOD. Solutions are at hand, but timing is critical. Days count at this point, since difficulty is headed downward.
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[quote name=“Kevlar” post=“13877” timestamp=“1371078004”]
Saying that it was unsuccessful is like saying that the US lost the Vietnam war: Your correct.Now let’s examine the casualties:
[list]
[*]They succeeded in artificially lowering difficulty, bringing in hash power too fast.
[*]They DDoS’ed the major pools. Pool payouts were crippled. Miners were disenfranchised.
[*]We’re now stuck back in a difficulty trap for the next few days.
[*]The flaw has gotten so much exposure that Feathercoin is being made an example of in the media, losing it’s credibility.
[*]The attacker made off with a bunch of coins.
[*]The price on the exchanges inflated, then crashed back to it’s normal support line over the course of 48 hours.
[*]Exchanges reacted by raising confirmations to 100 because the exploit is ready to go again and they don’t want to be caught holding the difference. This actually changes nothing, since the attacker could use their hashpower to mine a 101+ block chain fairly easily.
[*]Web sites for calculating difficulty had to take it off their lists.
[*]The problem is considered so serious, all marketing efforts are being put on hold in order to address this problem.
[*]The exploit is ready to go again.
[*]A solution to the problem has not been agreed upon (yet).
[/list]All of this amounts to NOT GOOD. Solutions are at hand, but timing is critical. Days count at this point, since difficulty is headed downward.
[/quote][b]I agree with most of what you are saying.[/b] So to save time, I just want to highlight the points we have some disagreement.
“The price on the exchanges inflated, then crashed back to it’s normal support line over the course of 48 hours.”
When Lightcoin was approaching 60 cents, I watched it end up being BTC-e’s pump and dump toy for weeks. While we certainly want to reflect a good rate, I don’t put too much stock in the exchange rates.
“The flaw has gotten so much exposure that Feathercoin is being made an example of in the media, losing it’s credibility.”
While it was certainly a bad situation, it hasn’t slowed down the number of signups nor the people talking about Feathercoin. What happened to us can EASILY happen to any other Scrypt coin with the exception of Litecoin. With GPU miners moving that direction over the next few months, they are not immune.
“The problem is considered so serious, all marketing efforts are being put on hold in order to address this problem.”
That’s not true. In fact, as I’m typing this, I’m working on the Feathercoin Myths videos right now. Bushstar might be appearing back on Let’s Talk Bitcoin in the next few days and I’m following up with more radio. I’m also gearing up for the next push once it’s announced. I’m still putting the same hours, just shifting things around. For example, I’m touching base with all active members, again, gearing up for what’s about to happen.
“A solution to the problem has not been agreed upon (yet).”
Bushstar is evaluating a few possible solutions with a well known developers in the community. I will wait for him to say something when he feels confident it’s technically feasible. I don’t want to say x, and have every Feathercoin hater up my #$#@# if it goes a different direction.
Again, I agree this is urgent. However, if these changes are put in place, it’s not just a patch job for the coin… it’s a new category. There’s only so many hours in the day, everything that can be done is being done.
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[list][quote name=“Kevlar” post=“13877” timestamp=“1371078004”]
[list][*]The flaw has gotten so much exposure that Feathercoin is being made an example of in the media, losing it’s credibility.
[/list]
[/quote]What I see is Feathercoin being mentioned in two prominent online web publications dedicated to cryptocurrencies and being portrayed in a good light and sympathetic way. If anything it makes us the underdog fighting against the big (possibly corrupt) powers that be; and everyone loves the underdog (except the powers that be lol).
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I understand how urgent our actions are right now. With that being said, we’re the ones being challenged with solution that’s not a quick fix. When you have massive pools that have the ability to swarm you in an instant, we can’t just rely on more miners. As you all know, with the introduction of ASICs and Bitcoin’s difficulty already skyrocketing, yesterday’s solutions just won’t cut it.
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[quote name=“Kevlar” post=“13828” timestamp=“1371071314”]
Well this can’t be good. We’re back under 1gh/s, which puts us easily back within the attackers range. Blocks are taking 10 minutes instead of 2.5, which means another 2 days until a retarget, assuming we don’t lose more hashing power.If I were the attacker (which I’m not) I’d see this as an opportunity waiting to happen. He could launch another 51% attack, with a modified timestamp on the block which would cause difficulty to calculate wrong again, bringing it down further while hash rate goes through the roof.
I don’t see this going well for us.
[/quote]They’re going after CNC. That’s their goal right now. They’ll be back.
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Actually, some users are signing because of the fact that we were 51’ed saying that you know a coin is good is if it gets attacked :)
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[quote name=“zerodrama” post=“14046” timestamp=“1371116500”]
They’re going after CNC. That’s their goal right now. They’ll be back.
[/quote]His still with us.
See http://explorer.feathercoin.com/a/6xtJbibr23
Simply looks like its releasing all its blocks on time, so not orphaning others, but still solving a lot of blocks. -
[quote name=“zerodrama” post=“14046” timestamp=“1371116500”]
They’re going after CNC. That’s their goal right now. They’ll be back.
[/quote]CNC off of coinwarz comparisons… cryptsy and btc-e near dead on orders.
I think they are experimenting. Hopefully, this will give us time. Though the sustained rate makes no sense. -
[quote name=“vasp” post=“14167” timestamp=“1371134963”]
[quote author=zerodrama link=topic=1604.msg14046#msg14046 date=1371116500]
They’re going after CNC. That’s their goal right now. They’ll be back.
[/quote]His still with us.
See http://explorer.feathercoin.com/a/6xtJbibr23
Simply looks like its releasing all its blocks on time, so not orphaning others, but still solving a lot of blocks.
[/quote]whats with 36073?
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They are pumping cnc now btc-e… cryptsy unaffected.
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[quote name=“vasp” post=“14167” timestamp=“1371134963”]
[quote author=zerodrama link=topic=1604.msg14046#msg14046 date=1371116500]
They’re going after CNC. That’s their goal right now. They’ll be back.
[/quote]His still with us.
See http://explorer.feathercoin.com/a/6xtJbibr23
Simply looks like its releasing all its blocks on time, so not orphaning others, but still solving a lot of blocks.
[/quote]this address is coinotron not the attacker. yes it’s one of the 2 that was able to put some block (4 of the 6 (33588-33593 ) between the first and second chains of the attacker, but also lot of orphan during the attack.
the 36073 block show transfer out of 10K that is then split to lots of address in small number like a payout to each pool member, just seems to be a pool wallet that transfer to the real one that actually distribute.it could be a good idea if pool put their address in known address list in this forum so looking at chain for weird stuff would be easier to do. (I know guys you change address from time to time and also found block on other address then the regular one sometimes ;-) as you list them in the found block from the pool. possibly backup server )
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[quote name=“vasp” post=“14167” timestamp=“1371134963”]
[quote author=zerodrama link=topic=1604.msg14046#msg14046 date=1371116500]
They’re going after CNC. That’s their goal right now. They’ll be back.
[/quote]His still with us.
See http://explorer.feathercoin.com/a/6xtJbibr23
Simply looks like its releasing all its blocks on time, so not orphaning others, but still solving a lot of blocks.
[/quote]They orphaned block #36151 by outrunning D2 pool for 22 seconds. Shit happens.
