Dr. Dan O'Keeffe and Dr. Darren Hurley-Smith (ISG) have been awarded a grant by the Ethereum Foundation Academic Grants programme.
The Ethereum Foundation is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting the Ethereum Blockchain and related technologies. The grant will investigate security improvements to the new Ethereum 2.0 'proof-of-stake' blockchain. Unlike the previous 'proof-of-work' version of Ethereum, Ethereum 2.0 does not rely on 'miners' for its security and is therefore much more energy efficient.
The project will explore adaptations to the core Ethereum 2.0 'consensus' protocol to mitigate risks of ransomware attacks on Ethereum 2.0 'stakers', also known as validators. These validators are fundamental to the security of the new protocol. The project, entitled 'REVOKE', aims to design a new revocation mechanism that will allow validators to improve their operational security by quickly changing their signing key without having to withdraw their stake in the event of a ransomware attack.
More information on the project can be found here.
The full list of grants awarded can be found here.
