mit-jamming-attackathon/README.md

# Attackathon

![image info](hackerman.jpg)

## Task 

In this attackathon, your task will be to write a program that performs 
a [channel jamming attack](https://bitcoinops.org/en/topics/channel-jamming-attacks/) 
against a test lightning network. You will be required to write a 
program that performs a jamming attack against a node in the test 
network. 

Your goal is to **completely jam all of the node's channels for an hour.**

Your program should: 
- Accept the public key of the node being attacked as a parameter. 
- Write an attack against the [hybrid approach to jamming mitigations](https://research.chaincode.com/2022/11/15/unjamming-lightning/)
  which is deployed on the network.
- Open any channels required to perform the attack, and close them 
  when the attack has competed.

The final deliverable for the attackathon is a [docker image](TODO) 
that downloads, installs and runs your attack.

## Network

The attack you develop will be tested against a [warnet](https://warnet.dev/)
running a network of LND nodes that have the jamming attack mitigation 
implemented* (via an external tool called circuitbreaker).

Some relevant characteristics of the network: 
- The reputation system has been primed with historical forwarding 
  data, so nodes in the network have already had a chance to build 
  up reputation before the attack begins.
- The graph was obtained by reducing the mainnet graph using a 
  random walk around our target node, and real-world routing policies 
  are used.
- When you run the attack, the non-malicious nodes in the network will 
  be executing [randomly generated payments](https://simln.dev) to 
  mimic an active network.

The LND nodes on the network are running a [fork of LND](https://github.com/carlaKC/lnd/tree/7883-experimental-endorsement)
which supports setting of `endorsement` signals for payments.

Some APIS to note:
- [AddHoldInvoice](https://lightning.engineering/api-docs/api/lnd/invoices/add-hold-invoice)
  creates an invoice that can be manually [settled](https://lightning.engineering/api-docs/api/lnd/invoices/settle-invoice) 
  or [canceled](https://lightning.engineering/api-docs/api/lnd/invoices/cancel-invoice)
- Endorsement signals can be set on the [SendToRoute](https://lightning.engineering/api-docs/api/lnd/router/send-to-route-v2)
  or [SendPayment](https://lightning.engineering/api-docs/api/lnd/router/send-payment-v2)
  APIs.

\* Note that endorsement signaling and reputation tracking are fully 
deployed on the test network, but unconditional fees are not. You should
assume that they will be 1% of your success-case fees, and we will 
account for them during attack analysis.

### Local Development

To assist with local development, we've provided a test network that 
can be used to run your attacks against. Prerequisites to set up this 
network are: 
* Python3
* Docker

Clone the attackathon repo:
`git clone https://github.com/carlaKC/attackathon`

*Do not change directory.*

The scripts will pull the relevant repositories to your current working
directory and set up your network. They expect the `attackathon` 
repository to be in the current directory.
* Warnet server: [./attackathon/scripts/run_warnet.sh](./scripts/run_warnet.sh) 
  sets up the warnet server, which is responsible for orchestration of 
  the network.
* Warnet cli: [./attackathon/scripts/run_attack.sh](/.scripts/start_network.sh)
  brings up your lightning network, opens channels and simulates 
  random payments in the network and runs your attack.
  `./attackathon/scripts/run_attack.sh ln_10`

## Assessment

Attacks will be assessed using the following measures:
- Did the attacker successfully occupy the resources of the targeted 
  node such that it could not process honest payments?
- What was the total cost of the attack, considering:
  - On-chain fees: for channel opens and closes, sending funds between 
    nodes on-chain will node be included for simplicity's sake.
  - Off-chain fees: the sum of fees paid for successful off-chain 
    payments plus 1% of the success-case fees for *all* payments that 
    are sent to represent unconditional fees.
  - Opportunity cost of capital: for each channel that is opened, 5% 
    p.a. charged on the total capital deployed in the channels, 
    assuming 10 minute blocks.

### HackNicePlz

We're trying to break channel jamming mitigations, not our setup itself
so please be a good sport and let us know if there's anything buggy! 
Real attackers won't be able to take advantage of our test setup, so 
neither should we.


## Network Creation

Participants do not need to read the following section, it contains 
instructions on how to setup a warnet network to run the attackathon 
on.

<details>
 <summary>Setup Instructions</summary>

To get started, you will need to clone the following repos *in the same
working directory*:
1. [This repo](https://github.com/carlaKC/attackathon)
2. [Warnet](https://github.com/bitcoin-dev-project/warnet)
3. [SimLN](https://github.com/bitcoin-dev-project/sim-ln)

You will need to provide: 
1. A `json` file with the same format as LND's `describegraph` output 
  which describes the graph that you'd like to simulate.
2. The duration of time, expressed in seconds, that you'd like the 
  setup script to generate fake historical forwards for all the nodes 
  in the network for.

The setup script provided will generate all required files for you:
`./attackathon/setup/create_network.sh {path to json file} {duration in seconds}`

Note that you *must* run this from your directory containing `warnet` 
and `simln` because it moves between directories to achieve various 
tasks! The name that you give the `json` file is considered to be 
your `network_name`. 

Once the script has completed, check in any files that it generated and 
provide your students with the following: 
1. The `network_name` for your attackathon.
2. The attackathon repo (/branch) with all files checked in.

</details>