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Analysis of Cryptographic Protection of the Bitcoin Core Cryptographic Wallet

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Abstract—

This article discusses the security of implementing encryption for the Bitcoin Core cryptocurrency wallet. Particular attention is paid to aspects of the practical use of cryptographic algorithms when encrypting the wallet.dat file with a password. Practical resistance to brute-force attacks using parallel computing on GPUs is also considered. It is discovered that Bitcoin Core does not implement changing the encryption key for the user’s private keys. This implementation makes it possible to carry out a second attack on the wallet without knowing the new password, if it has already been compromised previously. Changes to encryption algorithms are also been proposed to make brute-force attacks more difficult on the GPU.

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Funding

This work was supported by ongoing institutional funding. No additional grants to carry out or direct this particular research were obtained.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University, 195251, St. Petersburg, Russia

    P. V. Semyanov & S. V. Grezina

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  1. P. V. Semyanov
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  2. S. V. Grezina
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Correspondence to P. V. Semyanov.

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Translated by T. N. Sokolova

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Semyanov, P.V., Grezina, S.V. Analysis of Cryptographic Protection of the Bitcoin Core Cryptographic Wallet. Aut. Control Comp. Sci. 57, 914–921 (2023). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0146411623080278

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0146411623080278

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