Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero

Dimaz Ankaa Wijaya; Joseph Liu; Ron Steinfeld; Dongxi Liu; Tsz Hon Yuen

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6_5

Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero

Dimaz Ankaa Wijaya, Joseph Liu, Ron Steinfeld, Dongxi Liu, Tsz Hon Yuen

Department of Software Systems & Cybersecurity

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

12 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Monero is one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the market, focusing on users’ privacy. The built-in features in Monero help users to obfuscate the information of the senders and the receivers, hence achieve a better privacy compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Previous studies discovered multiple problems within Monero systems, and based on these findings, Monero system has been improved. Although improvements have been made, we discovered that new attacks targeting the anonymity reduction can still be conducted in Monero system. In this paper we propose two attacks. The first is an extension of a known attack called Monero Ring Attack. The second one exploits Payment ID to discover the real output of a mixin. We then propose countermeasures to these attacks.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Information Security and Cryptology
Subtitle of host publication	14th International Conference, Inscrypt 2018 Fuzhou, China, December 14–17, 2018 Revised Selected Papers
Editors	Fuchun Guo, Xinyi Huang, Moti Yung
Place of Publication	Cham Switzerland
Publisher	Springer
Pages	86-100
Number of pages	15
ISBN (Electronic)	9783030142346
ISBN (Print)	9783030142339
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6_5
Publication status	Published - 2019
Event	International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology (Inscript) 2018 - Fuzhou, China Duration: 14 Dec 2018 → 17 Dec 2018 Conference number: 14th http://xxhb.fjnu.edu.cn/inscrypt2018/ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6 (Proceedings)

Publication series

Name	Lecture Notes in Computer Science
Publisher	Springer
Volume	11449
ISSN (Print)	0302-9743
ISSN (Electronic)	1611-3349

Conference

Conference	International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology (Inscript) 2018
Abbreviated title	Inscrypt 2018
Country/Territory	China
City	Fuzhou
Period	14/12/18 → 17/12/18
Internet address	http://xxhb.fjnu.edu.cn/inscrypt2018/ https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6 (Proceedings)

Keywords

Anonymity
Attack
Monero
Ring signature
Traceability

Access to Document

10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6_5

Cite this

Wijaya, D. A., Liu, J., Steinfeld, R., Liu, D., & Yuen, T. H. (2019). Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero. In F. Guo, X. Huang, & M. Yung (Eds.), Information Security and Cryptology: 14th International Conference, Inscrypt 2018 Fuzhou, China, December 14–17, 2018 Revised Selected Papers (pp. 86-100). (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 11449 ). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6_5

Wijaya, Dimaz Ankaa ; Liu, Joseph ; Steinfeld, Ron et al. / Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero. Information Security and Cryptology: 14th International Conference, Inscrypt 2018 Fuzhou, China, December 14–17, 2018 Revised Selected Papers. editor / Fuchun Guo ; Xinyi Huang ; Moti Yung. Cham Switzerland : Springer, 2019. pp. 86-100 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science).

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abstract = "Monero is one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the market, focusing on users{\textquoteright} privacy. The built-in features in Monero help users to obfuscate the information of the senders and the receivers, hence achieve a better privacy compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Previous studies discovered multiple problems within Monero systems, and based on these findings, Monero system has been improved. Although improvements have been made, we discovered that new attacks targeting the anonymity reduction can still be conducted in Monero system. In this paper we propose two attacks. The first is an extension of a known attack called Monero Ring Attack. The second one exploits Payment ID to discover the real output of a mixin. We then propose countermeasures to these attacks.",

keywords = "Anonymity, Attack, Monero, Ring signature, Traceability",

author = "Wijaya, {Dimaz Ankaa} and Joseph Liu and Ron Steinfeld and Dongxi Liu and Yuen, {Tsz Hon}",

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editor = "Fuchun Guo and Xinyi Huang and Moti Yung",

booktitle = "Information Security and Cryptology",

note = "International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology (Inscript) 2018, Inscrypt 2018 ; Conference date: 14-12-2018 Through 17-12-2018",

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Wijaya, DA, Liu, J , Steinfeld, R, Liu, D & Yuen, TH 2019, Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero. in F Guo, X Huang & M Yung (eds), Information Security and Cryptology: 14th International Conference, Inscrypt 2018 Fuzhou, China, December 14–17, 2018 Revised Selected Papers. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol. 11449 , Springer, Cham Switzerland, pp. 86-100, International Conference on Information Security and Cryptology (Inscript) 2018, Fuzhou, China, 14/12/18. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6_5

Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero. / Wijaya, Dimaz Ankaa; Liu, Joseph ; Steinfeld, Ron et al.
Information Security and Cryptology: 14th International Conference, Inscrypt 2018 Fuzhou, China, December 14–17, 2018 Revised Selected Papers. ed. / Fuchun Guo; Xinyi Huang; Moti Yung. Cham Switzerland: Springer, 2019. p. 86-100 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science; Vol. 11449 ).

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference Paper › Research › peer-review

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T1 - Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero

AU - Wijaya, Dimaz Ankaa

AU - Liu, Joseph

AU - Steinfeld, Ron

AU - Liu, Dongxi

AU - Yuen, Tsz Hon

N1 - Conference code: 14th

PY - 2019

Y1 - 2019

N2 - Monero is one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the market, focusing on users’ privacy. The built-in features in Monero help users to obfuscate the information of the senders and the receivers, hence achieve a better privacy compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Previous studies discovered multiple problems within Monero systems, and based on these findings, Monero system has been improved. Although improvements have been made, we discovered that new attacks targeting the anonymity reduction can still be conducted in Monero system. In this paper we propose two attacks. The first is an extension of a known attack called Monero Ring Attack. The second one exploits Payment ID to discover the real output of a mixin. We then propose countermeasures to these attacks.

AB - Monero is one of the most valuable cryptocurrencies in the market, focusing on users’ privacy. The built-in features in Monero help users to obfuscate the information of the senders and the receivers, hence achieve a better privacy compared to other cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin. Previous studies discovered multiple problems within Monero systems, and based on these findings, Monero system has been improved. Although improvements have been made, we discovered that new attacks targeting the anonymity reduction can still be conducted in Monero system. In this paper we propose two attacks. The first is an extension of a known attack called Monero Ring Attack. The second one exploits Payment ID to discover the real output of a mixin. We then propose countermeasures to these attacks.

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KW - Attack

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KW - Ring signature

KW - Traceability

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A2 - Guo, Fuchun

A2 - Huang, Xinyi

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Wijaya DA, Liu J , Steinfeld R, Liu D, Yuen TH. Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero. In Guo F, Huang X, Yung M, editors, Information Security and Cryptology: 14th International Conference, Inscrypt 2018 Fuzhou, China, December 14–17, 2018 Revised Selected Papers. Cham Switzerland: Springer. 2019. p. 86-100. (Lecture Notes in Computer Science). doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-14234-6_5

Anonymity reduction attacks to Monero

Abstract

Publication series

Conference

Keywords

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