Christos Karapapas, Iakovos Pittaras, N. Fotiou, George C. Polyzos
{"title":"Ransomware as a Service using Smart Contracts and IPFS","authors":"Christos Karapapas, Iakovos Pittaras, N. Fotiou, George C. Polyzos","doi":"10.1109/ICBC48266.2020.9169451","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Decentralized systems, such as distributed ledgers and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), are designed to offer more open and robust services. However, they also create opportunities for illegal activities. We demonstrate how these technologies can be used to launch a ransomware as a service campaign. We show that criminals can transact with affiliates and victims without having to reveal their identity. Furthermore, by exploiting the robustness and resilience to churn of IPFS, as well as the decentralized computing capabilities of Ethereum, criminals can remain offline during most procedures, with many privacy guarantees.","PeriodicalId":420845,"journal":{"name":"2020 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC)","volume":"136 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2020-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"16","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"2020 IEEE International Conference on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (ICBC)","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1109/ICBC48266.2020.9169451","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 16
Abstract
Decentralized systems, such as distributed ledgers and the InterPlanetary File System (IPFS), are designed to offer more open and robust services. However, they also create opportunities for illegal activities. We demonstrate how these technologies can be used to launch a ransomware as a service campaign. We show that criminals can transact with affiliates and victims without having to reveal their identity. Furthermore, by exploiting the robustness and resilience to churn of IPFS, as well as the decentralized computing capabilities of Ethereum, criminals can remain offline during most procedures, with many privacy guarantees.