Enterprise Blockchain Security Flashcards

Which cryptographic primitive underpins the finality and tamper-evidence of blocks in most enterprise blockchain implementations?

Answer: Cryptographic hash linking each block to its predecessor

Each block contains the hash of the previous block, creating a chain where modifying any block invalidates all subsequent hashes and makes tampering immediately detectable.

A security architect must ensure non-repudiation for enterprise blockchain transactions. Which mechanism directly achieves this?

Answer: Requiring each transaction to carry a digital signature from the submitter's private key

A digital signature created with the submitter's private key proves authorship and cannot be credibly denied, providing cryptographic non-repudiation.

What is a 'griefing attack' in the context of enterprise smart contracts?

Answer: An attack designed to waste a contract's gas or prevent state transitions without financial gain

A griefing attack aims to disrupt contract functionality or drain gas budgets, causing denial of service without direct financial profit for the attacker.

When auditing an enterprise blockchain for supply chain integrity, which attack vector targets off-chain oracle data feeds?

Answer: Oracle manipulation / data feed poisoning

Oracles bridge off-chain data to smart contracts; if the data feed is compromised or manipulated, the on-chain logic acts on false information, corrupting supply chain records.

An enterprise risk assessment identifies 'long-range attacks' as a threat to their PoS blockchain. What is the best mitigation?

Answer: Implementing checkpointing with social consensus or weak subjectivity

Checkpointing commits finalized block hashes so new nodes bootstrapping from a checkpoint cannot be fed an alternate history from attackers holding old private keys.

Which smart contract design pattern directly reduces the attack surface of upgradeable contracts by separating logic from state?

Answer: Proxy pattern with separated storage and logic contracts

The proxy pattern keeps state in one contract while logic lives in a separate implementation contract, allowing upgrades without migrating stored data.

During an enterprise blockchain incident response, which forensic artifact is most valuable for reconstructing the sequence of malicious transactions?

Answer: The immutable on-chain transaction history and event logs

The blockchain's immutable ledger provides a tamper-evident, time-ordered record of all transactions and emitted events, making it the primary forensic source for incident reconstruction.