A Survey on the Security of Blockchain Systems
This is an incremental survey that addresses security issues for developers and researchers in blockchain technology.
The paper tackles the lack of systematic examination of security threats in blockchain systems by conducting a survey that reviews real attacks and enhancement solutions, aiming to guide future research efforts.
Since its inception, the blockchain technology has shown promising application prospects. From the initial cryptocurrency to the current smart contract, blockchain has been applied to many fields. Although there are some studies on the security and privacy issues of blockchain, there lacks a systematic examination on the security of blockchain systems. In this paper, we conduct a systematic study on the security threats to blockchain and survey the corresponding real attacks by examining popular blockchain systems. We also review the security enhancement solutions for blockchain, which could be used in the development of various blockchain systems, and suggest some future directions to stir research efforts into this area.