Can Smart Contract Audit Prevent Attacks On Blockchain Networks?

Introduction

On the blockchain platform, smart contracts are programs that run upon meeting certain criteria. They are the cornerstone of the blockchain space, particularly its ever-expanding domain usage. But with the rapidly expanding Blockchain applications, vulnerabilities are almost certainly unavoidable.

This calls for a code audit to ensure a bug-free deployment of the smart contracts on the blockchain network. In fact, an unaudited smart contract could be the weakest link to your blockchain security. 

Here, we will discuss if auditing smart contracts can prevent attacks on blockchain networks and if there are other security measures beyond auditing. 

Firstly, let's talk about the issues with smart contracts.

Possible issues with smart contracts

Unlike most other agreements, smart contracts are primarily concerned with financial assets. As a result of the Blockchain's immutability, errors in smart contracts cannot be corrected once deployed.

Smart Contracts Vulnerabilities could pose a security risk as well as a tempting target for malicious cybercriminals.

1. Indirect execution, handling by fallback.

The fallback function of a smart contract allows for indirect execution. There are several reasons for calling this function:

• If the signature string passed for encoding contains a typo, or if a function with such a signature does not exist, the fallback function is called.
• The generated call transfers the user's ether to another contract, triggering a fallback function.

2. Gas Optimization

For every transaction involving a smart contract, a gas price is consumed. 

Through a smart contract audit, one can be assured that gas is utilized in an optimum manner, avoiding overutilization in any case. 

3. Vulnerabilities like Re-entrancy, front running, broken access control, and more.

Exploiting smart contracts for vulnerabilities is not new. Hackers have already drained billions of dollars worth of crypto. In fact, some of them forced forking on the blockchain network, for example, the DAO hack. 

4. Virtual machine issues

A virtual machine is like a blockchain processor. It seeks to create a favorable smart contract execution environment. Virtual machines accomplish this by isolating the network and transforming it into a single system capable of performing a wide range of computational tasks. Like smart contracts, there are vulnerabilities associated with VMs, including broken access control, crypto loss while transferring to an orphaned address, distributed denial of service attacks, and more. 

How can a smart contract audit prevent attacks on blockchain networks?

Smart contract flaws make them vulnerable to hacking, resulting in the loss of stored crypto assets. As a result, it is critical to take their security seriously. A security audit is thus required to provide a safety net for your blockchain project.

• Vulnerability assessment

A cybersecurity auditor thoroughly examines the code, checking for vulnerabilities and optimizing performance. Emploode's functionality.   

• Code optimization

In addition to identifying bugs, auditing smart contracts optimize the code's performance. It includes testing every code's function for its intended behaviour and adequate gas usage for transactions, also known as gas optimization. 

• Preventing costly hacks

Smart contract hacks, especially in the DeFi sector and cross-chain bridges, have been a major risk hindering blockchain acceptance. Exploiting flaws in these contracts can result in enormous losses for the platform and its users, as shown by numerous recent hacks, including the poly network attack, Acala hack, wormhole attack, and others.

What's beyond smart contract audit for blockchain security? 

Auditing smart contracts is undoubtedly the first step to ensuring blockchain security. But it is not the only step required for the project's security. 

Firstly, smart contracts are one part of your blockchain project. It is equally vital to take care of the security aspects of other parts, including the user interface. 

Secondly, an audit is the initial phase of smart contract safety. Bug bounty and smart contract insurance are the other stages of blockchain security. 

Wrap Up

The rising popularity of smart contracts comes at the cost of equally heightening exploits shaking the blockchain networks. Signifying the need for deploying a correct code on the Blockchain. 

Blockchain security audit is thus an essential and unavoidable part of deploying projects on the mainnet. It verifies the entire code for vulnerabilities and optimizes the smart contract's functioning. 

Author Bio

I am David Henry, a professional Smart Contract Auditor, working to securely seal the boundaries of blockchain networks from malicious hackers. I am passionate about hacking, gaming, and coding and have a thorough understanding of mathematics and cryptography. After working in IT/web2.0 security for a number of years, I delved into the web3.0 domain. Now for more than 2 years in this field, I have audited a number of solidity smart contracts.

With an attraction towards ethical hacking, in my spare time, I help in securing the crypto-ecosystem by responsibly disclosing bugs if encountered in an open-sourced contract.