Gas Limit DoS Attack And The Effect It Has On The Blockchain Network

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INTRODUCTION

The arrival on blockchain technology has also made it possible to have important advancement in digital transactions, decentralization applications and smart contracts. Gas is another important aspect of blockchain that helps it function, because it fuels operations on different platforms such at Ethereum. This Gas is very important but it also has its challenges one of which is the Gas limit Denial of Service (DoS) attack .

Gas limit DoS attack is the type of attack that controls gas limitations within the Ethereum network . It simply involves creating transactions that are meant to consume high amount of gas and so doing pushes the network to its limit . This is done by deploying multiple “useless contracts” simultaneously. Useless contracts are contracts created for the sole aim of increasing gas consumption.This then causes delays or failure in processing legitimate contracts.

Another way is by increasing the gas price for transaction . Since in Ethereum miner prioritize transaction with higher gas price , these attackers there by out price regular users and cause network congestion.
This attack affect the mechanics that makes Ethereum and other networks to function , the attackers turn gas into a tool of disruption

ITS IMPACT ON THE BLOCKCHAIN NETWORK

• NETWORK CONGESTION:

Network congestion occurs when the network is filled with useless contracts created by attackers mainly to consume excessive amounts of data. This act causes a build up of pending transactions. As the miners try to execute the useless transaction they leave the legitimate ones unattended to.

As the congestion worsens, users that wants their transactions to be executed quickly pays huge sum of money for gas fees, and users that can’t afford to pay would be left unattended to.

Network congestion can also result in frustration among users , because of the delay and failure in execution of contracts. This also affects the reputation of the blockchain network , reducing trust and driving them to work with another network.

• INCREASE IN TRANSACTION COST:

As the network is being attacked the cost of transaction increases because users starts to compete for block space . This competition raises the prices of transactions as users wants their transaction to be executed first.

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This increase in cost also affects regular users as they can no longer afford daily visits to the network . For example the decentralized application that’s rely on frequent transactions will now have little engagement cause of the cost.

Also the increase cost drives the users to search for alternatives i.e other networks that are cheap and fast in transaction execution. This makes the effect network loose to competitors and have a reduction in their growth rate.

• DISRUPTION OF DECENTRALIZED APPLICATIONS:

This attack cause disruption to decentralized applications in the sense that timely transactions are delayed and sometimes fail as a result of network congestion the attack caused

This attack also leads to financial loss, loss of users trust and also loss of some opportunities. This negative consequence occurs cause of the disruption made to the network and also because intended transaction has failed .

This disruption also makes the users to question the reputation of the Decentralized application and the blockchain network. Leading them to move to another blockchain network to have their transaction executed

• UNDERMINED NETWORK REPUTATION:

This attack makes the user to undermine the network reputation. When their transaction continues to be delayed their trust in the blockchain network will be reduced

As this happens the network will start to loose both user and Developers. Users will start to look for alternatives so that their transaction can be executed at a cheap price. The Devlopers will also feel reluctant to develop decentralized applications

As the reputation of the blockchain reduces the native currency will also reduce as they tend to loose investors. If this attack is not contained they might not be able to recover making them to diminish in the blockchain landscape

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CONCLUSION

The impact of this attack can be easily mitigated by the blockchain network when they implement mechanisms such as the adjustment of gas limits, the adoption of rate limiting strategies and also the improvement of transaction validation efficiency.