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A Small Subgroup Attack on Bitcoin Address Generation

Author

Listed:
  • Massimiliano Sala

    (Department of Mathematics, University of Trento, Via Sommarive 14, 38123 Povo (TN), Italy)

  • Domenica Sogiorno

    (Department of Mathematics, University of Bari, 70121 Bari, Italy)

  • Daniele Taufer

    (CISPA Helmholtz Center for Information Security, 66123 Saarbrücken, Germany)

Abstract

We show how a small subgroup confinement-like attack may be mounted on the Bitcoin addresses generation protocol, by inspecting a special subgroup of the group associated to point multiplication. This approach does not undermine the system security but highlights the importance of using fair random sources during the private key selection.

Suggested Citation

  • Massimiliano Sala & Domenica Sogiorno & Daniele Taufer, 2020. "A Small Subgroup Attack on Bitcoin Address Generation," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 8(10), pages 1-8, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jmathe:v:8:y:2020:i:10:p:1645-:d:418244
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    Cited by:

    1. Antonio J. Di Scala & Andrea Gangemi & Giuliano Romeo & Gabriele Vernetti, 2022. "Special Subsets of Addresses for Blockchains Using the secp256k1 Curve," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 10(15), pages 1-11, August.

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