A Cardano node upgrade is underway following the Wannet DDoS attack.
A failed spam attack on the Cardano blockchain has prompted developers to work on node optimizations to prevent future Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks of a similar nature.
On June 25, the Cardano network experienced a DDoS attack starting at block 10,487,530. Raul Antonio, chief technology officer of Fluid Tokens, explained that the attack was aimed at charging low fees for high-value transactions on the Cardano blockchain.
Additionally, if successful, the attacker could steal Cardano (ADA) tokens registered on the network.
The idea behind the Cardano DDoS attack
As the attack unfolded, Anastasia Labs founder and CEO Philip DiSarro said.
“The idea behind this attack is to take advantage of the fact that currently the size of the reference scripts does not affect the payment of the transaction, but it affects the work of validators to process the transaction.”
Disarro, along with several Cardano developers, smartened up the attacker to return the stolen ADA tokens and stop the DDoS attack.
The attacker eventually stopped the DDoS attack and was unable to move any stolen funds. Disarro added:
“Thanks Moron for the free money. An attacker who wants to harm the ecosystem is actually a good example of donating to the open source smart contract development work we do. […]”
Read Cointelegraph's crypto guide to learn more about how DDoS attacks work on the blockchain.
Strengthening the Cardano blockchain
Daisaro says there are other ways to stop the attack, but his method is the fastest. If you rush to deploy to production without thorough investigation and high-quality free audits, you could end up losing as much money to the vulnerability as the attacker did.
Intersect, a member-based organization of the Cardano ecosystem, later confirmed the attack and encouraged the developer community to find a quick solution to DDoS attacks.
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While the Cardano network is intact and functioning normally, “the network has experienced higher than normal load and some SPOs have been negatively impacted by the intensification of block height battles,” Intersect said.
“If the solution is properly tested and deployed, we will share the new node version with the SPOs.”
The Intersect Task Force is collaborating to identify and test a solution to further reduce the impact of spam attacks.
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