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Bitcoin Blockchain Steganographic Analysis

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Applied Cryptography and Network Security Workshops (ACNS 2020)

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Abstract

Steganography has been used as a way to hide data in files or in messages traveling on communication channels. Its use can be worrisome when it is used without proper authorization. Recently, it has been detected that there are arbitrary files included in the public blockchain of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency. The main concern arises when such data inserted contains objectionable content, thus compromising blockchain platforms. In this context, this paper presents an analysis of the Blockchain of Bitcoin, based on some proposals for the use of steganography in blockchains and on detection methods of steganographic data. Additionally, it is shown that we found no evidence of steganography data in Bitcoin using these techniques. We conclude by showing that there is no specific approach, so far, for steganalysis in blockchains.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://bitslog.com/2013/09/03/new-mystery-about-satoshi/.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência da Computação, Departamento de Informática e Estatística, Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil

    Alexandre Augusto Giron, Jean Everson Martina & Ricardo Custódio

  2. Universidade Tecnológica Federal do Paraná, Toledo, Paraná, Brazil

    Alexandre Augusto Giron

Authors
  1. Alexandre Augusto Giron
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  2. Jean Everson Martina
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  3. Ricardo Custódio
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alexandre Augusto Giron .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, Singapore

    Jianying Zhou

  2. University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Mauro Conti

  3. Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, Singapore

    Chuadhry Mujeeb Ahmed

  4. The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Man Ho Au

  5. ICIS, Radboud University Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Lejla Batina

  6. University of California, Irvine, CA, USA

    Zhou Li

  7. University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Jingqiang Lin

  8. University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Eleonora Losiouk

  9. University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS, USA

    Bo Luo

  10. CIISE, Concordia University, Montréal, QC, Canada

    Suryadipta Majumdar

  11. Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, Denmark

    Weizhi Meng

  12. AppGate Inc., Bogotá, Colombia

    Martín Ochoa

  13. Delft University of Technology, Delft, The Netherlands

    Stjepan Picek

  14. Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken, NJ, USA

    Georgios Portokalidis

  15. City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Cong Wang

  16. Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong

    Kehuan Zhang

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Giron, A.A., Martina, J.E., Custódio, R. (2020). Bitcoin Blockchain Steganographic Analysis. In: Zhou, J., et al. Applied Cryptography and Network Security Workshops. ACNS 2020. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 12418. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61638-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61638-0_3

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  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-61638-0

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