Assessing Blockchain Vulnerabilities With Automation Tools

Assessing Blockchain Vulnerabilities With Automation Tools

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Blockchain Vulnerability Assessment is a systematic approach to identify, plan and remediate vulnerabilities from smart contracts. To ensure the security of blockchain smart contracts, it is very important to prioritize and patch vulnerabilities that may occur during various stages of development. Blockchain is a smart technology that is capable of self-executing programs and recording different data-driven transactions without intermediaries, which makes it very interesting for various industries to use this technology for process automation. Industries like finance, banking, and supply chain are making a tremendous effort in adopting this technology.

For example, Citigroup and Nasdaq announce their new embedded payment solutions by using distributed ledger technology, FedEx, one of the leading shipping companies, has also announced the testing of a new Blockchain system for the commercial supply chain.

Smart contracts are decentralized programs for autonomous transaction validation on a blockchain. Once these smart contracts are deployed on the blockchain they become immutable, so it is important for developers to understand the security aspects of smart contract development and vulnerability assessment while building a smart contract. The main concerns for developers are that it is hard to guarantee the security of smart contracts and the lack of powerful tools that support the development and testing of smart contracts. Blockchain smart contract development is a complicated process in itself, with the possibility of vulnerabilities entering during development, testing, and deployment stages. Let us try to understand what are the blockchain vulnerabilities and how to build a secure blockchain environment in this article…

Origin Of Blockchain Vulnerabilities

Over the years, as blockchain technology is evolving so is the information about different types of vulnerabilities coming into the light. Ethereum is the most popular blockchain platform for developing smart contracts in solidity. The publicly known vulnerabilities are listed on the SWC Registry.

Public libraries by OpenZepplin are available, where audited smart contracts can be accessed for reference by the developers. These are popular and helpful resources that are at the disposal of the smart contract developers for avoiding past development errors in the smart contract codes.

Despite all this, still, smart contracts are subject to vulnerabilities. Therefore, tools that can scan and detect vulnerabilities once the code is written can help in improving smart contract development and securing it from all possible vulnerabilities. Based on the common occurrence and publicly available trends, blockchain vulnerabilities are assessed and remediated.

Remediation Approach Of Blockchain Vulnerabilities

Identifying and resolving vulnerability issues within a Blockchain system before a hacking incident, would be an ideal strategy during smart contract development. The following are some of the security recommendations made by the Open Web Application Security Project (OWASP), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), and the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT).

  • Surveillance of User Activity
  • Review Implementation of the blockchain protocol with a secure source
  • Security of blockchain consensus
  • Examining the infrastructure's security
  • Scanning and monitoring network security
  • Source validation of user data input
  • Source review of server data output filtering
  • Application safety
  • Examining the source of smart contract security
  • Pentest for application security
  • Analysis of security flaws in compiled software in the absence of source code
  • Limit the use of import libraries in compiled software
  • Using a host-based virus or malware scanner
  • Using a secure communication channel, such as a VPN
  • Installing a secure hardware device on the endpoint
  • Implementing a more secure authentication process, such as two-factor authentication

Source: compiled from OWASP, NIST, CERT

The automated Vulnerability Management System from BlockChainSentry can assist you in creating a flawless vulnerability assessment that considers governance, business value, and technical requirements while ensuring trust, privacy, and security.

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To ensure the security of the blockchain environment, checkout BlockChainSentry's Vulnerability Management System. BlockChainSentry is scalable and compatible with future changes of web3 technology that are going to play an important role in supporting blockchain technology.