DDoSCoin: New Crypto-Currency Rewards Users For Participating In DDoS Attacks (softpedia.com) 45
An anonymous reader writes from a report via Softpedia: "In the most innovative, weirdest, and stupidest idea of the month, two researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Michigan have created a crypto-currency that rewards people for participating in DDoS attacks," reports Softpedia. "Called DDoSCoin, this digital currency rewards a person (the miner) for using their computer as part of a DDoS attack. Just like Bitcoin, DDoSCoin uses cryptographic data to provide a proof-of-work. In DDoSCoin's case, this proof-of-work is extracted from the TLS connection a miner establishes with the website they're supposed to attack." This means that DDoSCoin can be used only with DDoS attacks on TLS-enabled websites. Participating in DDoS attacks gives miners DDoSCoin, which can then be converted in Bitcoin or fiat currency. Furthermore, anyone can request a DDoS attack via the PAY_TO_DDOS transaction. The research paper that proposes DDoSCoin is only a theoretical exercise, and a DDoSCoin crypto-currency does not currently exist in the real world. For now.
Um, why? (Score:1)
Why would we want to encourage users to participate in DDoS attacks by paying them? How is this research? The idea of paying for criminal services using crypto-currency isn't new, so I don't see how this is particularly innovative. And why are researchers being funded to carry out "research" that encourage DDoS attacks?
Until it gets an exchange rate with Bitcoin (Score:2)
Since it is made up money, it does not actually cost them any real money
That's true only until DDoSCoin gets an implementation. Once it does, watch an exchange rate with a better-known cryptocurrency emerge.
Re: (Score:2)
In order to buy more DDoS credits, you need to make TLS handshakes with the server chosen by someone paying you. Buying credits from someone else might be easier than mining them yourself by performing DDoSes for others.
A Better Name? (Score:2, Funny)
How about DarwinCoin: stupidity-based currency that eliminates the wielder from the gene pool.
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Hate detected... [deviantart.com]
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We're less than half way through the month (Score:2)
In the most innovative, weirdest, and stupidest idea of the month ...
Give it time. We're less than half-way through the month. There's plenty more stupid out there.
I can't even (Score:2)
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I can't even wrap my head around the idea of this currency... WHY DOES THIS EXIST? EVEN IN THEORY!
Indeed. I can see how you can create these coins by participating in a DDOS, but then what can you do with it? Who is going to accept is as payment for anything?
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It's like being a hit man who gets paid by having other people do hits for them in return (to generate the currency).
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Indeed. I can see how you can create these coins by participating in a DDOS, but then what can you do with it? Who is going to accept is as payment for anything?
They are a proof of work, a modern day varmint pelt. You could set up a way to exchange them for bitcoin or another virtual currency paid for by the person or persons who wanted the DDOS in the first place. The "good" news is that botnets are cheap and plentiful right now, and thus so are DDOS attacks. This scheme wouldn't be worth it since each node would be lucky to earn more than a few fractions of a cent.
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This scheme wouldn't be worth it since each node would be lucky to earn more than a few fractions of a cent.
Don't worry, we'll make up for it in volume :-)
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I can't even wrap my head around the idea of this currency... WHY DOES THIS EXIST? EVEN IN THEORY!
There can be no light without the dark. Asshattery like this is more than proof of (its own) concept. It shows us that there can be noble and benevolent cryptocurrencies that reward doing good stuff!
Imaging a CC that rewarded participating in SETI or protein folding or whatever.
Or take saving for retirement. There could be a CC that rewarded you for doing that. And it would end up giving you like $0.000003 in value for performing an action that will ultimately end up being more valuable (with comp
Re: I can't even (Score:1)
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Is it Spoofable (Score:4, Interesting)
Is it spoofable?
Can I simply drop the ddos packets at my outgoing firewall, but still show as having contributed, and having 'done the work' ?
Or setup a target virtual machine on the IP address, configure my router to point at that, and then ddos the shite out of it ?
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I did. and so, yes, i guess outright dropping the packets isn't going to fly, but i still wonder if there is room to proxy it in some way, and make a single connection to the target count as multiple attempts...
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I'm old (Score:1)
It really seems like people just don't know how to behave any more.
Correction (Score:1)
"...two researchers from the University of Colorado Boulder..."
Correction:
"two assholes from the University of Colorado Boulder..."
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Updated correction:
"...two assholes, a grad student from the University of Michigan and a junior faculty member from the University of Colorado Boulder..."
What happened to USENIX? (Score:2)
USENIX used to be one of my favorite conferences. Important work was presented there. Or at least work that, at the time, seemed like it had the potential to be important, although no program committee has yet been perfect at foreseeing the future...
This just seems like a silly joke taken too far.
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The awards goes to.... (Score:2)
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"In unrelated news, the University of Michigan and the University of Colorado Boulder both came under devastating, high-volume DDOS attacks of unprecedented severity, crippling both campuses and causing widespread outages. The attack shows no sign of slowing. Ever."
The victim can crash the market, as the issuer (Score:1)
If someone knows their network is being DDoSed, and the currency is based on proof of a connection to their (supposedly limited) servers... What's to stop them form setting up a local farm of nodes and "issuing" more currency to themselves?
This crashes the market for the DDoS-coin and removes an incentive for other people to attack.
Re: Perverse reward system (Score:2)
Think past the edge of the envelope, people (Score:2)
What they demonstrated here is that, when you abstract it further, you can reward behaviour that you want with scrip that can then again be used to pay for the same activity being used by you. Now, do we possibly know of some application for that? Well?
C'mon, no file sharer's here?
Now, I am not aware of the more recent development in the area (it's been a while since I torrented a Linux ISO), but back then it was so that you had to allow uploads to be eligible for downloads. Further back, some of you might
Now that's (Score:1)