Security Considerations

Potential Attack Vectors

IBVM's security model addresses various attack vectors:

1. 51% Attack on Bitcoin

   1. Impact: Potential reorganization affecting IBVM commitments

   2. Mitigation: Waiting for deep Bitcoin confirmations (6+ blocks)

2. Sequencer Collusion

   1. Impact: Transaction censorship or reordering

   2. Mitigation: Decentralized sequencer selection and slashing conditions

3. Invalid State Transitions

   1. Impact: Incorrect state updates

   2. Mitigation: ZK-SNARKs ensure mathematical validity of all state transitions

4. Data Unavailability

   1. Impact: Users unable to verify or reconstruct state

   2. Mitigation: Data availability sampling and economic incentives

5. Bridge Vulnerabilities

   1. Impact: Loss of funds during deposit/withdrawal

   2. Mitigation: Threshold signatures, time-locks, and fraud proofs

Formal Security Properties

IBVM provides the following formal security guarantees:

1. State Validity: All state transitions are provably correct

   1. $\forall S_t, S_{t+1}, T: S_{t+1} = Apply(S_t, T) \Rightarrow Verify(vk, H_t, H_{t+1}, \pi) = true$

2. Transaction Finality: Once included in a confirmed batch, transactions cannot be reverted

   1. $P(revert(tx) | confirmed(tx, n)) < \varepsilon^n$

   2. Where $\varepsilon$ decreases exponentially with confirmation depth $n$

3. Censorship Resistance: Transactions cannot be permanently censored

   1. For any valid transaction $tx$, $\exists t: tx \in Batch_t$

4. Economic Security: Cost of attacking the system exceeds potential gain

   1. $Cost(attack) > Gain(attack)$

Emergency Procedures

IBVM includes emergency procedures for critical situations:

1. Emergency Shutdown

   1. Trigger: Critical vulnerability detection

   2. Process: Halt new transactions, complete pending withdrawals

   3. Recovery: Fix vulnerability, verify state, resume operations

2. Bridge Freeze

   1. Trigger: Suspicious bridge activity

   2. Process: Temporarily suspend deposits/withdrawals

   3. Recovery: Investigate anomalies, resume when secure

3. State Recovery

   1. Trigger: Data loss or corruption

   2. Process: Reconstruct state from available data sources

   3. Recovery: Verify reconstructed state, resume operations