Smart Contract Audit/Security Salaries and Rates in 2024

Smart Contract Audit/Security

Blockchain Security Tools

Blockchain security testing tools and more general security tools for blockchain, such as vulnerability scanners, penetration-testing frameworks and smart contract auditors, have been developed to ensure the robustness of blockchains and mitigate potential vulnerabilities in the implementation of blockchain networks. That is why many organisations have been using such tools in order to test and analyse the security of their blockchains.

What are Threats to Blockchain Security?

Despite its decentralised and secure nature, blockchain is also not immune from a few threats. As blockchain sees increased adoption, threats might become one of its major concerns. There are different types of threats to blockchain security that are crucial to address in order to ensure that the decentralised ledger remains secure and trustable.

• 51% Attacks
  A 51 per cent attack is an attack in which one entity or a group of individuals control more than 50 per cent of a blockchain network’s computing power. This gives the attacker the ability to alter transactions, potentially enabling double-spending. Blockchain security tools that monitor and maintain consensus in the network, like consensus algorithms, have been developed to thwart this attack at every level of the chain. They do so by preventing any one entity from gaining too much control.
• Double-spending
  consensus on the blockchain is maintained by the prevention of double-spending This is precisely why any such attack represents one of the biggest existential threats to the blockchain. The consensus on the blockchain (which is based on the prevention of double-spending) is maintained by the fact that each transaction on the blockchain can be independently verified to have a history. The state-of-the-art security of a blockchain (in particular the robustness of the consensus algorithm, which can be PoW or PoS) simultaneously makes it verifiable and guarantees that the power of double-spending does not undermine its public faith.
• Sybil Attacks
  A Sybil attack, for example, can occur when someone uses multiple identities to gain control over a network, with the ability to manipulate the majority of transactions, delivering malicious commands. Blockchain security testing tools help address such a threat by identifying Sybil attacks using data that reveals abnormal behaviour, such as a node that behaves as if it is multiple users. This way, a decentralised and pseudonymous network can be sure that every node represents a unique entity and that such a node is a real participant rather than a fabrication.

Smart Contract Vulnerabilities

Besides adding functionality to blockchain, smart contracts also potentially introduce different types of vulnerabilities that can compromise the security of the system. We need security tools designed for blockchain, for example to audit smart contracts’ code, looking for potential risks that prevent smart contracts from executing as intended, or to make them susceptible to exploitation.

• Malicious Nodes
  The decentralised nature of blockchain means that transactions are validated across every node. However, bad seed nodes can render the system unsafe. Blockchain security testing tools need to be continuously tuned across every node to detect any unusual activity and alert the network security team to take swift action.
• Regulatory and Compliance Challenges
  Beyond the technical threats, blockchain also faces regulatory and compliance threats. The evolving regulatory landscape calls for specialised blockchain security tools that help organisations to ensure that their blockchain implementations are in compliance with all the required legal frameworks. These tools mitigate the risk of legal liabilities.

What are the Blockchain Security Tools?

As blockchain technologies have emerged in a vast number of fields, making them leapfrog legacy systems, the growing complexity of blockchain systems has added to concerns around security. In response, a diverse set of tools have emerged, which can be chunked into several segments, based on the nature of their focus.

Node Security Tools

• NodeWatch
  It’s a real-time security checker for blockchain nodes called NodeWatch. It monitors node infrastructure for out-of-ordinary behaviours and attacks. By alerting about suspicious incidents and proactively protecting blockchain nodes, NodeWatch works to enhance the security of the entire blockchain.
• Nodestalker
  Nodestalker complements NodeWatch by streaming real-time data, detecting patterns that are related to potential security breaches or suspicious activity, and by conducting spot checks on nodes. Nodestalker monitors nodes in real-time and feeds back patterns that are related to potential denial-of-service attacks or other threats.

Wallet Security Tools

• Ledger Nano S
  Ledger Nano S is a hardware wallet that keeps cryptocurrency holdings safe. Using strong encryption and offline storage, it ensures that private keys never go online. The Ledger Nano S is a core component of many businesses’ and individuals’ wallets security toolkit.
• Trezor
  Another option is Trezor, a hardware wallet that claims to ‘keep it simple, but not simple-minded’. The open-source Trezor is well protected with a PIN. The device is compatible with many different currencies.

Smart Contract Security Tools

• MythX
  MythX is a first-of-its-kind security analysis tool for Ethereum smart contracts that uses a combination of symbolic and concrete approaches in order to perform a thorough set of security checks and effectively identify vulnerabilities and potential exploits for any malicious Ethereum smart contract. By incorporating MythX into a development pipeline, it increases the overall security posture of deployed smart contracts and leads to reduction in costly vulnerabilities.
• Securify
  One tool for this is Securify, a company that performs the formal verification of smart contracts against specified security properties. Formal methods provide a systematic way to flag vulnerabilities and verify that code is correct.
• Oyente
  Oyente is a project that’s attempting to achieve same for common security problems in Ethereum smart contracts. By using static analysis on smart contracts, it can be used by developers to evaluate which vulnerabilities might exist in the code before it is deployed. Preventing these vulnerabilities is an important part of avoiding instances where users lose money or where an exploit becomes possible.

Network Security Tools

• Blockscan
  Blockscan is a comprehensive network security tool that monitors network traffic and identifies bad actors, as well as watching for threats and misuse of blockchain protocols. By monitoring network-level vulnerabilities, Blockscan reduces the risks involved in blockchain infrastructure.
• EtherScan
  The webpage, EtherScan, delivers near-real-time monitoring of the Ethereum blockchain. It functions as a network security tool; users can monitor transactions, contract interactions and network statistics, and help security issues before they become a problem.

Permissioned Blockchain Security Tools

• Hyperledger Caliper
  Hyperledger Caliper benchmarks performance and security of permissioned blockchains via customised business logic simulations, where distributed transactions involve a small number of participants discussing a transaction privately and securely among themselves (walled garden design). By actively simulating ways in which business logic can be exercised (stress-testing), organisations can assess and enhance the resilience of their permissioned blockchain implementations.
• Chaincode Security Analyzer
  Targeting Hyperledger Fabric, the Chaincode Security Analyzer analyses chaincode (smart contract) security, where it performs static analysis to identify security vulnerabilities to improve the security posture of Hyperledger Fabric-based permissioned blockchain.

Blockchain technology has revolutionised many sectors, including banking, by creating a decentralised and secure transaction register. As blockchain becomes more commonplace, the necessary security protocols become more stringent. Cryptographic tools are a vital element of those security protocols. Here we will report on the OpenSSL cryptographic toolset, HashiCorp Vault and Amazon Key Management Service (KMS), which are all important tools for reinforcing blockchain security.

OpenSSL for Blockchain Security

The most predominant open-source toolkit for implementing cryptographic protocols is OpenSSL. It provides developers with all the cryptographic primitives necessary to implement SSL/TLS protocols and integrate other cryptographic libraries into blockchain applications. The protocols offered by OpenSSL guarantee private communication between two parties, and data integrity.

Key Management Tools

• HashiCorp Vault
  Another important part of blockchain security is key management, and HashiCorp Vault is the leader in this space. HashiCorp Vault provides a secure, centralised way to manage your organisation’s cryptographic keys, application secrets and other sensitive data. Features such as dynamic secret generation and dynamic secret rotation go a long way to prevent undesired access and strengthen blockchain security posture.
• Amazon Key Management Service (KMS)
  Amazon KMS is an easy-to-use cloud-based key management service that integrates with blockchain applications hosted in the AWS cloud. It makes it easy to create and manage scalable cryptographic keys and also maintains secure protection over these keys. It offers powerful security features such as key rotation and audit trails to protect blockchain applications from security breaches, and to make sure the cryptographic keys are used and stored as per industry norms and standards.

How does its Automated Scanning Contribute to the Security of Decentralized Applications?

Blockchain technology is a relatively new concept and the security and integrity of decentralised networks is essential. There are various security monitoring and auditing tools that have been developed and can be classified according to their functions. This article discusses two types of tools: Security Auditing Platforms and Blockchain Network Monitoring Tools.

Security Auditing Platforms

• Quantstamp
  Quantstamp is a leading security auditing platform for blockchain systems that utilises the finest in smart contract security analysis to provide exhaustive smart contract audits.
  Its automated scanning searches for vulnerabilities, ensuring the security of DApps built on blockchain platforms. Quantstamp works to fix one of the great risks of security present in smart contracts that are used in many blockchain networks.
• Certik
  Certik offers blockchain security combining formal verification and static analysis, with a comprehensive smart contract auditing solution.
  Still, it gives various developers an opportunity to provide ‘proofs’ of correctness of smart contract code, similar to Certik’s approach. The analysis of blockchain could invite new mathematicians and other experts into the mix with fresh, individual ideas, instead of a single central authority Such a high level of assurance has already been introduced to blockchain by Certik’s Formula Verification solution. After all, numerous projects on the blockchain market have already turned to Certik’s service.

Blockchain Network Monitoring Tools

• Chainkit
  Chainkit is a blockchain network monitoring tool that allows for real-time monitoring of blockchain transactions. It can help detect anomalies and suspicious activities occurring on the blockchain.
  Data integrity verification and threat DetectionChainkit can be used to check the integrity of data, which makes it useful for maintaining the resilience of blockchain networks so that they’re not vulnerable to attacks. The tool also sends notifications when there are threats, so that these issues can be addressed quickly. Chainkit’s user-friendly, accessible interface and customisable notification facilities make it a valuable tool for the management of blockchain security.
• Alethio
  Alethio provides analytics and monitoring services for blockchain networks, with the initial focus being on Ethereum. It tracks detailed activity information for the blockchain and can analyse smart contracts and transaction interactions.

The tool flags anomalies, tracks the movement of assets, and ensures the integrity of blockchain networks. Alethio’s dashboard and custom report are a helpful addition to the arsenal of blockchain security professionals.