Attack Vectors and Mitigations

DataTie has identified several attack vectors that could potentially compromise the security and integrity of the system. To ensure that the system remains robust and protected, DataTie proposes a range of mitigations.

One of the attack vectors addressed by DataTie is the front-running attack. In this attack, an attacker modifies the value of a key-value (KV) entry before a transaction is included in the blockchain, thus invalidating the submission. To mitigate this, DataTie proposes allowing Proof of Retrievability (PoRA) submissions to use the metadata of a recent block. By providing a grace period, miners can mine a recent snapshot of shard values until the snapshot expires, thereby preventing front-running attacks.

DataTie addresses the attack vector of overestimating replicas with partial replicas. If a node stores only partial data of a shard, it may still attempt to achieve the full hash replication, leading to an overestimation of replicas. To mitigate this, DataTie ensures that the full hash replication is only achieved when a node stores the complete data of a shard. This prevents nodes with partial data from falsely claiming replicas.

Another attack vector considered by DataTie is the unfair mining advantage that can be gained through attacker-generated data. If an attacker generates parts of the shard data using a fast pseudo-random number generator, they can gain an unfair advantage while performing Proof of Retrievability (PoRA). To address this, DataTie adopts a Dagger-like mining approach where the actual data stored on disk is a combination of the KV entry value and an item from a directed acyclic graph (DAG) dataset. This ensures that the attacker's generated data does not provide them with an advantage over other honest miners.

DataTie takes a proactive approach to address potential attack vectors. By implementing mitigations such as using recent block metadata in PoRA submissions, ensuring complete data replication, and adopting a Dagger-like mining approach, DataTie aims to enhance the security and integrity of the system. These measures are crucial for establishing trust and maintaining the robustness of the DataTie network.