Failed Attack On Ethereum: No Action Required From Node Operators
Ethereum blockchain was attacked on Tuesday 14 September 2021. While the attack was a failure, it managed to trick a few nodes but otherwise was unable to do any damage to the rest of the network.
Ethereum developer Marius Van Der Wijden announced on Twitter that the attacker published a chain of roughly 550 blocks, which had invalid proofs of work. In other words, instead of mining the blocks correctly according to the network’s rules, the blocks were created at will and broadcast to the network.
Someone unsuccessfully tried to attack #ethereum today by publishing a long (~550) blocks which contained invalid pow's. Only a small percentage of @nethermindeth nodes switched to this invalid chain. All other clients rejected the long sidechain as invalid
Majority of Ethereum nodes rejected the blocks, as the proofs of work were not validated. However, a small percentage of nodes running Nethermind (an Ethereum client) switched to the invalid version of the blockchain.
The main blockchain has now overtaken the length of the alternative blockchain version with the invalid blocks. As a result, all affected nodes have now moved back onto the main blockchain.
Van Der Wijden commented:
“Another great demonstration of how client diversity makes ethereum stronger … [There is] no immediate attention required from node operators.”
