The 3 steps to avoiding protocol breaches
A survival guide for builders in the 'Wild West' of Web3
Full Stack is a concise briefing of industry insights on Web3 security for users and builders. Know a builder starting out in the space? Share this message and help secure Web3.
Welcome to another issue of Full Stack!
This month we have seen multiple Web3 projects get breached by hackers, leading to significant losses of user funds.
Despite the extraordinary development and growing maturity of the Web3 space, bad actors are only a wallet-connect away. Web3 remains a ‘Wild West‘, with few sheriffs in town: Developers and users must secure themselves to remain safe.
While each protocol breach is unique, there are basic fundamentals builders can incorporate into their development to maximize their security.
The three pillars of protocol security
The security landscape of Web3 is evolving rapidly, with a shift away from common and easily-identifiable errors towards more complex and application-specific logic related issues.
To mitigate this risk, there are three core tenets builders should incorporate into their development cycle:
Thoroughly review your code. This may sound simple, but to do it properly you must challenge yourself. Hackers are proficient in thinking “outside the box“ to discover edge-cases which compromise a protocol’s security - you must be too.
Don’t just prepare for how benign users will interact with your protocol. How might a vandal interact with it? What kind of limits would they face in your system?
When we perform a Launch Audit at sec3, examining unusual use-cases which may break your protocol are key.
Be proactive about your security approach. This means continuously monitoring system usage and detecting anomalous behaviors, so you can stay ahead of emerging threats and minimize the risk of security breaches.
Monitoring can be time consuming and laborious, but it is imperative for maintaining a secure protocol. At sec3, we help projects automate this with WatchTower, which can flag suspicious transactions in real-time.
Audit, audit, audit. We pride ourselves on our security prowess at sec3, but also understand that different auditors may identify distinct vulnerabilities. Engaging two or even three auditing firms before launch is recommended to ensure maximum security for high risk protocols.
Post launch, incremental audits are also a must. When making changes to your codebase, working with an audit team you can trust makes all a difference. As protocols scale, continuous auditing will ensure they stay safe against the latest threats.
sec3 is a security research firm performing in depth audits and building monitoring tools to secure the future of web3. We approach our auditing partnerships with a long-term focus on quality and communication. Contact us to learn more.