Æternity Community Saves Network From 51% Attack

Table of Contents

• Æternity Network And The Attacks Attacks
• Æternity Community Comes Through In The Clutch
• Æternity To Implement Hyperchains Anchored To Bitcoin

Æternity have today released a medium post which acknowledged their community as being responsible for thwarting off various attacks on the Æternity network, and helping to recuperate 29 million stolen Æ tokens in the process.

As of now, their development team is working hard to implement hyperchains and use Bitcoin as a parent chain to prevent future attacks.

Æternity Network And The Attacks Attacks

Æternity Network suffered from three major attacks in less than two months.

• First attack: The first attack happened in the evening of December 5, when a group of miners began mining blocks for an unknown entity that controlled more than 51% of the hashrate. Clear communication and coordination between the miners and exchanges led to the entity getting blacklisted.
  
  
• Second attack: On January 3, 2021, an attack was launched at the æternity Community Telegram group. The group became compromised and over 6.900 members were deleted. The community leaders analyzed the attacks and took the necessary security precautions. Less than two weeks later, 10% of the original 6,900 members have rejoined
  
  
• Third attack: On January 8, there was a third attack wherein an unknown miner began to mine a secret chain and started to use the 29 million Æ that were stolen from the December attack. Their intention was to attempt a double-spend attack against exchanges. The community again coordinated with the exchanges, which eventually recuperated the 29 million tokens.

Æternity Community Comes Through In The Clutch

Not only has the community responded quickly to the issue, but they even rented out a substantial amount of their hashing power to neutralize the effect of the 51% attack and force the hacker to abandon the stolen tokens. The developers immediately informed the exchanges and mining pools of the attack to foster a spirit of direct, honest, and open communication.

Æternity To Implement Hyperchains Anchored To Bitcoin

Even before the attacks, the æternity Foundation started an initiative to implement hyperchains. Founder Yanislav Malahov believes that hyperchains will be critical in evolving the network's privacy since they are proof-of-stake systems relying on proof-of-work networks for security.

“In this way, we can leverage the mainnet for PoW while also using PoS to improve privacy and scalability for the entire network.’’

Hyperchains are a simple way to prevent 51% attacks. The first version of the æternity hyperchains will be anchored to the Bitcoin network, which is the most secure PoW network in the world.

Disclaimer: This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.