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Elena R
Elena R
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Elena is an expert in technical analysis and risk management in cryptocurrency market. She has 10+year experience in writing - accordingly she is avid journalists with a passion towards researching new insights coming into crypto erena.
- Dec 13, 2024 07:27 UTC
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Dogecoin Security in Question After DogeReaper Attack
A recent attack, "DogeReaper," exploited a vulnerability in older Dogecoin nodes, significantly reducing the network's active nodes.
This attack highlights a major security flaw in Dogecoin's network, potentially impacting its decentralization and reliability.
While the attack has not severely impacted Dogecoin's price, it has raised concerns about the network's security and the need for urgent fixes.
A serious security flaw has rocked the Dogecoin network, leaving 69% of its active nodes disabled after a hacker exploited a critical vulnerability. What’s even more alarming is that this breach targeted older versions of the network, exposing potential weaknesses that could shake the community’s confidence.
As Dogecoin works to recover, the attack has raised important questions about the blockchain’s security and its ability to withstand such vulnerabilities in the future.
Keep reading to know more.
The DogeReaper Exploit
Data highlighted by blockchain analytics platform Blockchain, the number of active Dogecoin nodes dropped from 647 to 205 earlier this week. Although some nodes have come back online, bumping the total figure back up to 331 as of now, the event exposes a major weakness in the network design.
The hack, named “DogeReaper,” was first discovered by security engineer Tobias Ruck. The exploit allows hackers to remotely trigger segmentation faults in Dogecoin nodes, effectively taking them offline. The attack primarily targeted older nodes running outdated versions of the software, leaving a large portion of the network vulnerable.
Hacker Comes Forward
Andreas Kohl, a developer at Sequentia, admitted on X to using the DogeReaper vulnerability to attack the network from a decade-old laptop in El Salvador’s countryside. He clarified that the exploit mainly affected older nodes, while centralized exchanges and major custodians were not impacted.
“Many Dogecoin users didn’t pay attention because they can use exchanges or have some kind of third party that holds their coins,”
Kohl said.
Dogecoin’s Decentralization Weakness Exposed
The attack has highlighted a critical flaw in Dogecoin’s decentralized system. Some researchers have compared the DogeReaper exploit to the ‘Death Note’ concept from Japanese manga, where writing a name causes a character to die. Similarly, the exploit can paralyze the network, halting transactions and blocking new blocks from being generated for days.
Even with the hack, Dogecoin’s price has remained relatively stable. As of the latest data from CoinMarketCap, Dogecoin is priced at $0.4073, down 2.54%. However, the attack has increased pressure on the Dogecoin team to fix the vulnerability and restore confidence in the network.
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While the exploit has shaken the network, Dogecoin’s resilience will ultimately be tested in how quickly it can recover and secure its future.
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