A Decentralized Framework for DDoS Attack Mitigation Using Ethereum Smart Contracts and Crypto-economic Incentive Mechanisms

Abstract

Inundating networks with traffic to cripple service availability defines a DDoS attack. Traditional defences, like firewalls and centralized scrubbing centers, can suffer from single points of failure during large-scale attacks.  Enter new blockchain technology, with Ethereum probably leading the way in decentralized solutions. Since Ethereum smart contracts enable DDoS detection and enforcement of validation rules, events can be managed automatically, applying rewards or penalties without a central authority. In this way it leverages the positive aspects of crypto-economic mechanisms and reputation systems; giving people an incentive to honestly participate while making abusing the system unprofitable, creating a trustless, transparent, resilient decentralized defence against cyber threats. The architecture of a blockchain-validated system that gates access to services includes a back-end gateway responsible for verifying transactions on the blockchain before processing user queries. The off-chain detection algorithm identifies unexpected traffic spikes that exceed a predefined threshold. Attackers were deterred by cost, the system itself stayed up and running, and the smart contract worked autonomously. The suggested approach maintained 96% access success for authorized users, successfully blocked 92% of DDoS traffic, and guaranteed 98% uptime during simulated attacks. All validated access attempts were 100% immutably recorded on-chain, and attackers had to pay 300% more employs transparent on-chain rules and Ethereum smart contracts to manage access. Because every access attempt is permanently documented on the blockchain, it is difficult to alter logs or stop denial-of-service attacks without detection.