The Monero Research Lab (MRL) has decided to recommend that all Monero node operators enable a ban list
https://github.com/Boog900/monero-ban-list/blob/main/ban_list.txt
- Download the ban list and:
./monerod --ban-list <file-path-to-ban-list>
🧐 https://gist.github.com/Rucknium/76edd249c363b9ecf2517db4fab42e88
Im a monero noob. Can someone explain the need of a ban list? And how it works?
It removes the spy nodes from network so they cant do a timing attack (If one spy node receives a transaction unseen by the 100s of other spy nodes, they can logically deduce that the first instance seen was the originator of the transaction/block). The current list above has a parsing error for the subnets (IPs with 0/24) and those are important because each single subnet contains 256 possible IPs. These possible IPs are fully actively being utilized for the attack as I have seen first hand. I hope Boog900 or one of the list maintainers can address this parsing error somehow so I can remove my temporary fixed list. This could be somehow a personal error somehow but most probably these unparsed subnets are a unnoticed issue.
But with dandelion++ it should be infeasible to deduce anything about a transaction on receipt, no?
yes the overall transaction is safe but the individual node sending that transaction/block is recorded with the IP logged. Mass collection with a large spy network would easily enable a semi reliable initiator logging system that could be used later for any purpose. You could connect to a public node to hide and not send from personal node but then again the public node itself could be a spy node too. Its all about collecting general metadata for use with other data to be cross examined when the time is needed.
Best solution when connecting to public nodes would be through Tor. Even if the public node is a spy node somehow with tor enabled, they would still be able to see requested blocks but would not be able to pinpoint who is requesting. It still adds a good layer and is recommended by most, but it is not perfect because Tor is also somewhat under a timing attack.