Attainable hacks on keystore files in ethereum wallets--a systematic analysis

Ethereum is a popular Blockchain platform that allows users to manage their cryptocurrency transactions through the wallets. Ethereum wallet helps interact with the blockchain network easily, and it keeps Ethereum cryptocurrency (Ether) transaction data of its users. The use of Ethereum and wallets grows rapidly. Since they handle huge value of crypto assets, attackers are keen to hack and steal Ethers from Ethereum wallets. But there lacks comprehensive security analysis, especially on keystore files in Ethereum wallets. There were a few incidents occurred with huge loss of Ethers in Etheruem wallets within the last five years. In this paper, we conducted a systematic analysis on hacking methods from the existing literature and conducted experiments to find how the Ethereum wallet’s keystore file is vulnerable to the adversaries. Since the keystore file is secured with a password, we have used the brute-force and the dictionary attack to crack the password of the keystore file in Ethereum wallets. Our results showed that the dictionary attack is more efficient to hack the keystore file than the brute-force attack. Further, the keystore file is less vulnerable, if it is used complex password credentials.