Zcash Genesis Ceremony

Privacy Coins - Ultimate Course
#122
  1. 6
  2. All of them.
  3. Preventing side-channel attacks and maintaining secrecy for the genesis key.
  4. An attack based on information gained from a proper implementation of a software system on hardware. Can include power usage, sounds, em fields generated, etc…
  5. This story hasn’t changed my level of trust in Zcash. The likelihood that the genesis key was compromised is low, but the total obfuscation of the ledger prevents auditing of the total money supply and makes it more difficult to detect inflationary attacks.
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#123
  1. Six
  2. All of them as each held a part of ‘bad’ key that could compromise security.
  3. In order to show that Zcash code is secure an nobody can compromise it.
  4. Side Channel Attack - is a method to get information even if you don’t have direct access to a computer’s data in order to spy on it. Often, you can piece together some idea of what a computer is doing by examining what’s going on with the physical components. What frequencies are humming across the metal capacitors in a laptop? How much power is it pulling from the wall? How is the voltage fluctuating? The patterns in these signals can leak information about a software program’s operation, which, when you’re running a program that you want to keep secret, can be a problem.
  5. More security, as methods that they use were quite reliable even if one of the computer was compromised.
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#124
  1. How many ‘stations’ were there for the genesis ceremony?

There were 6 stations: 5 immobile and 1 mobile

  1. How many stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption?

All six stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption.

  1. What is the rationale for keeping the ceremony secret?

To maintain a high level of security and prevent attacks

  1. What is a side-channel attack’?

The idea behind side channel attacks is that you don’t have to have direct access to a computer’s data in order to spy on it. Often, you can piece together some idea of what a computer is doing by examining what’s going on with the physical components.

  1. OPINION: Does this story give you more or less trust in the security of Zcash?

This story seems positive but it’s also not enough for me to say I’m more confident or not with Zcash. The journalist writing this might be biased to write in favour of the team and the protocol; zk-SNARK is something that very few people really understand. These are some of the red flags I quickly see, but again, a single piece of article can’t be a driver for my opinion.

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#125
  1. 6 Wich one was a mobile station driving around canada and destroying with a propane tank the computer
  2. All 6
  3. So the bad key on witch it is encrypted the system could be destroyed and not used by a bad actor to mint extra coins
  4. An attack that is not directly to the source you want to hack but a devise close or that comes into contact in certain point with the intender target
  5. More trust in the individuals and the protocols of security and prevention they installed for the zcash creation or source code
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#126

  1. six stations were used for the ceremony.

  2. all six

  3. reduce chances of attacks

  4. A side channel attack is a security exploit that aims to gather information from or influence the program execution of a system

  5. Less trust. I dont like the fact that there is a “Bad Key” at all. Also i dont think a tin foil lined cardboard box is an appropriate solution to be advertising when you could have billions of dollars in the protocol.

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#127
  1. Total of six stations: five immobile stations and 1 mobile station…
  2. All five stations.
  3. To make it more difficult for attackers to make preparations necessary to mount any successful side channel attack.
  4. The attack of computer system based on information spied from non-direct access computer data.
  5. This story gives me more trust in the Zcash security,
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#128

  1. 6

  2. All 6

  3. The Zcash team limited their security audit to just a handful of people inside the company, but they may also have made it more difficult for an attacker to make the kinds of preparations that would be necessary to mount a successful side-channel attack.

  4. A side-channel attack is a security exploit that aims to gather information from or influence the program execution of a system by measuring or exploiting indirect effects of the system or its hardware – rather than targeting the program or its code directly.

  5. My opinion is that this story gave me more trust in the security if Zcash.

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#129

  1. There were six stations for the genesis ceremony, five of them were immobile and one was mobile.

  2. All six stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption.
    The benefit of dividing up the work is that no one participant can compromise the ceremony. Each fragment of the bad key is worthless unless it is combined with all the others. It cannot even be brought into existence unless all members of the ceremony collude or an attacker successfully compromises all six of the participating stations.

  3. Instead of building real-time transparency into the ceremony design, the Zcash team opted to meticulously document the event and save all artifacts that remained after the bad key was destroyed. This evidence is now available for analysis to prove the process went as it was described. As an extra measure, they decided to invite a journalist to bear witness.
    Less people knew about the ceremony less chances were for it to be compromised. So to increase the security of it.

  4. The idea behind side channel attacks is that you don’t have to have direct access to a computer’s data in order to spy on it. Often, you can piece together some idea of what a computer is doing by examining what’s going on with the physical components.
    In 2014 Tromer and his colleagues demonstrated a successful attack in which they were able to steal a decryption key from a laptop by recording and analyzing the sounds it made as it ran RSA decryption software.

  5. This story gives me more trust in the security of Zcash.
    The software that was running during the Zcash key generation ceremony was all custom built specifically for that occasion and was intentionally kept from the public until the ceremony was over. The choice to do this was controversial and the approach strays from that of other similar ceremonies.

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#130
  1. 6 Stations
  2. All 6
  3. For the overall protection and incubation of the project
    4.Its exploiting information from physical components of a computer system, rather than the data and the software itself.
  4. Crypto privacy is a new frontier for me. I would say the article gave me more trust in the security of Zcash, but less trust in the usability. This looks 100 times more complicated than Bitcoin and I believe privacy on the blockchain has a long way to go.
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#131
  1. How many ‘stations’ were there for the genesis ceremony?
    6
  2. How many stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption?
    All 6
  3. What is the rationale for keeping the ceremony secret?
    Protect the generation of the initial parameters for zk-SNARKS.
  4. What is a side-channel attack’?
    Spying on computer data without direct access. For example listening to the hardware sounds and analyzing what software is doing.
  5. OPINION: Does this story give you more or less trust in the security of Zcash? Undecided, but probably more than less trust.
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#132

1. How many ‘stations’ were there for the genesis ceremony?
Six: Five “immobile” and one mobile station going across British Columbia.

2. How many stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption?
All of them so the attacker has all the pieces of the bad key parameter to break it.

3. What is the rationale for keeping the ceremony secret?
To avoid any outsider to be able to orchestrate a side-channel attack.

4. What is a ‘side channel attack’?
A cybernetic attack which does not require direct access to a computer’s data in order to spy on it.
Often, one can piece together some idea of what a computer is doing by examining what’s going on with its physical components.
Patterns in the signals offered by frequencies humming across the metal capacitators in a laptop, how much power the computer is pulling from the wall and how the voltage is fluctuating can leak information about a software’s program’s operation.

5. OPINION: Does this story give you more or less trust in the security of Zcash?
The story gives me more trust in the security of Zcash and reinforces even more my idea for the need of strong privacy in whichever currencies we use as individuals (and collectively) and on the data and devices that are part of our daily lives and are so fragile and subjected to attacks and mishandling yet.

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#133

  1. 6

  2. 6

  3. Security. This limited their security audit to only a handful of people. It also made it much more difficult for any potential attackers.

  4. A side channel attack is when you do not have direct access to a computer’s data. Patterns from signals such asfrequencies, pulling power, voltage fluctuations can leak information about a software program operation.

  5. There is no doubting the efforts of the Zcash team to provide a solution to greater privacy. To give an opinion I would need to explore further.

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#134

1.) There were six total “stations” that participated in the Genesis Ceremony, and one of them was mobile while the other 5 were immobile.
2.) All six stations would have to be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption because each have their own fragments of generated keys. No single station has the entire key to itself, making it harder to compromise.
3.) The rationale for keeping the ceremony secret is that the information on the software program’s operation won’t be leaked to a potential attacker, where the attacker could perform a side channel attack.
4.) A “side channel attack” is a where an attacker doesn’t need direct access to a computer’s data in order to spy on it. The attacker can potentially piece together some idea of what a computer is up to by examining its physical components.
5.) In my opinion, this story has given me a little more trust in the security of Zcash. These stations dividing up and decentralizing work makes it much more secure, and all of the generated keys each station has can prevent attacks a lot better. Teamwork is much at play here, and even if one station were compromised, the attacker still would only have a small key of an entire piece and that key fragment is worthless unless it’s combined with all the others.

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#135

:one: How many ‘stations’ were there for the genesis ceremony?

There were 6 stations for the genesis ceremony, 5 of which were immobile and 1 mobile.

:two: How many stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption?

In order to break Zcash’s encryption, all 6 stations must be compromised. Even if 1 was compromised, an attack would not have the full ‘recipe’ to break the encryption.

:three: What is the rationale for keeping the ceremony secret?

It was important to protect the generation of the initial parameters of the bad key - which could break Zcash’s encryption, secret and segregated.
If someone was able to organise a coordinated attack on all 6 stations for the ceremony, it would nullify all of Zcah’s encryption.

:four: What is a side-channel attack’?

A side-channel attack is when a hacker is able to extract useful information by a digital device by analysing its physical behaviour. So if the hacker has access to internal microphones, they could measure fan speed which could give clues as to what’s happening with the device when generating keys, or any other activity.

:five: OPINION: Does this story give you more or less trust in the security of Zcash?

This gives more trust - the limits that the Zcash went to to protect the Genersis Ceremony is testament to the levels of protocol security.

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#136
  1. How many ‘stations’ were there for the genesis ceremony? : 6 stations ; 5 were immobile and 1 was mobile.
  2. How many stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption? : All of the systems must be comprimised in order to break encryption.
  3. What is the rationale for keeping the ceremony secret? : By keeping the the ceremony software secret, the Zcash team limited their security audit to just a handful of people inside , making it more difficult for an attacker
    to make preparations that would be necessary to mount a successful side channel attack.
  4. What is a ‘side channel attack’? : Side channel attacks is spying on a device ; computers data you don’t direct access to.
  5. OPINION: Does this story give you more or less trust in the security of Zcash? : In my opinion it does increase the trust and security of Zcash especially understanding the zk-SNARKS Implementation of the protocol.
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#137

  1. There were six stations in total for the Zcash genesis ceremony. Each station was operated by a different individual or organization, and all six stations had to be present and participate in the ceremony in order for it to be completed successfully.

  2. To break Zcash’s encryption, an attacker would have to compromise all six stations that participated in the genesis ceremony. This would be a very difficult task, as the stations were located in different locations and operated by different individuals and organizations.

  3. The rationale for keeping the ceremony secret was to ensure that the parameters generated during the ceremony could not be compromised by an outside party. The ceremony was designed to be secure and verifiable, but the added layer of secrecy helped to further protect the integrity of the process.

  4. A side-channel attack is a type of security attack that exploits information that is leaked through a system’s physical implementation, such as its electrical or electromagnetic emissions. Side-channel attacks can potentially be used to compromise the security of a system by gathering information about its internal operations or state.

  5. It is difficult to determine whether the story of the Zcash genesis ceremony gives one more or less trust in the security of the cryptocurrency, as it ultimately depends on one’s individual perspective. The fact that the ceremony was carefully planned and executed by a group of trusted individuals and organizations, and that it was designed to be secure and verifiable, may give some people confidence in the security of Zcash. On the other hand, the fact that the ceremony was kept secret and the parameters generated during the ceremony are not publicly available may raise concerns for some people about the transparency and accountability of the process.

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#138

  1. How many ‘stations’ were there for the genesis ceremony?
    6 stations in total.

  2. How many stations must be compromised to break Zcash’s encryption?
    All six stations must be compromised.

  3. What is the rationale for keeping the ceremony secret?
    To prevent any side channel attacks.

  4. What is a side-channel attack’?
    The idea behind side channel attacks is that you don’t have to have direct access to a computer’s data in order to spy on it. Often, you can piece together some idea of what a computer is doing by examining what’s going on with the physical components.

  5. OPINION: Does this story give you more or less trust in the security of Zcash? I would need to do further research on this topic to come up with an opinion. The journalist writing this article provides their point of view only.