Blockchain Security from the Bottom Up: Securing and Preventing Attacks on Cryptocurrencies, Decentralized Applications, NFTs, and Smart Contracts

Blockchain technology has taken off dramatically in recent years, and cryptocurrency has a market cap in the trillions of dollars. Cryptocurrency users and everyone else exploring applications of blockchain technology assume that the underlying technology is secure and that the immutable digital ledger is actually immutable. However, this may not always be the case.

This book provides a comprehensive introduction to blockchain security at all layers of the blockchain ecosystem. For each layer of the blockchain ecosystem, it explores how the system should work and potential ways in which it can be attacked. Each potential attack vector is explained in detail along with potential countermeasures and - when possible - examples of real-world instances of the attack.

Blockchain technology is constantly changing and evolving, and new attack vectors will likely be discovered in the future. This book is designed to provide both a understanding of the blockchain security threats that we know about today and a framework for identifying and assessing potential blockchain security threats in the future. A clear understanding of potential attack vectors and security best practices is essential to developing secure blockchain systems and protecting them against attack.