Session private messenger9/9/2023 ![]() ![]() This incentive helps to keep the network healthy, and drives network growth to further strengthen the network. In return for providing services to the network, Service Node operators are periodically rewarded with a portion of the Oxen block reward. To run a Oxen Service Node, a prospective node operator has to ‘stake’ - temporarily lock up - a certain amount of the Oxen cryptocurrency. This makes it relatively simple for a third party to start up dozens or even hundreds of nodes and conduct a Sybil attack.Īttacking the Oxen network isn’t quite so simple. On many decentralised networks, starting up a new node is as simple as turning on your PC (or renting a VPS), installing the network’s node hosting software, and turning it loose onto the network. ![]() There’s a financial barrier (in the form of a $OXEN cryptocurrency staking requirement) to starting up a Oxen Service Node, making it prohibitively expensive for an attacker to start up enough nodes to execute a Sybil attack on Session’s network. ‘Sybil resistance’ is why the cryptocurrency element is important. Sybil war: Session’s market-based Sybil resistance This kind of attack is called a Sybil attack, and it’s a real danger for most decentralised networks - with no barrier to entry, a malicious actor can simply start up an overwhelming amount of nodes and gain control of (or simply spy on) the network. If anyone can run a Service Node, couldn’t one attacker start up a bunch of malicious Service Nodes and swarm the network with them? And if suddenly every node in a message routing chain was controlled by the same attacker, couldn’t this compromise Session’s anonymity? The Service Node network is the backbone of Session’s secure messaging system. ![]() This means it’s not possible for any one Service Node to figure out who’s talking to whom. Session’s onion routing technology limits the information any one Service Node has about messages being sent - they only know the IP address of the previous and following nodes in the message routing chain. But Service Nodes also provide services to the network above and beyond those basics - including securely routing Session messages from person to person. What’s the difference? In a nutshell, Oxen Service Nodes do all the typical full node tasks, like validating new blocks, and storing the blockchain. The Oxen blockchain doesn’t just have full nodes or masternodes - it has Service Nodes. Oxen Service Nodes: Servers at your service And in a properly decentralised blockchain, participation is permissionless - that means there’s no central authority that gets to decide who can (or can’t) run a node. These nodes work together to decide which transactions are valid, and the order they’re entered into the blockchain ledger. ) New blocks of transactions are validated by ‘full nodes’ or ‘masternodes’ - user-operated computers on the blockchain network. For more on how blockchains work, check out the primer on the Oxen blog. (Blocks also include the solution to a complex mathematical puzzle - but that’s beyond the scope of this article. But what does that have to do with blockchain?Īt its core, a blockchain is a ledger of transactions, and each block in the chain is made up of a set of transactions, a cryptographic hash of the previous block in the chain, and a hash of itself. Decentralisation is Session’s ace in the hole (for more on why decentralisation is so crucial, check out our article on centralisation vs. You might’ve heard us talk about the Service Node network - the community-operated decentralised network that runs Session. Session bucks this trend of empty promises - we’ve built a real product that leverages a cryptocurrency blockchain to provide a useful, and even vital, service: secure, highly anonymous encrypted communications.īut why does Session even need a cryptocurrency, or the blockchain? Session and the blockchain: Back to basics Just like wider blockchain tech, crypto hasn’t gotten mainstream adoption, and real-world use cases are still pretty limited.Įven more worryingly, the last five years have seen plenty of fraudulent blockchain and cryptocurrency projects rise to prominence, and dishonest (or simply incompetent) ‘altcoin’ or ‘shitcoin’ projects seemingly outnumbering legitimate projects that can actually deliver. Very few cryptos have delivered on their grand promises, and the ones that have are facing ever-stricter government regulation. ‘Cryptocurrency’ hasn’t fared much better, either as a buzzword or as a product. But blockchain has struggled to find meaningful real-world applications, and for most people, the word feels like vaporware - or worse, a shameless cash-grab by companies trying to scam their customers. You’ve probably heard claims about how blockchain is going to ‘revolutionise’ every industry, and how it’s the ‘future’ of security, privacy, data storage, and more. ‘Blockchain’: The buzziest buzzword of the last decade. ![]()
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