Why Automation Of Smart Contract Vulnerability Scan And Remediation Is The Need Of The Hour?

Blockchain technology is gaining popularity and the demand for the right skills and automation tools are also rising for faster adoption of this technology across industries. We discussed, in our previous blog post, different aspects of smart contract vulnerabilities and their remediation. Here, we are going to share why automation in smart contract development and vulnerability management is important for matching up with the changing business scenarios.

Blockchain technology is no longer limited to only cryptocurrency. Industries across sectors are embracing this technology and are actively working on developing blockchain-based business applications. As per IBM CEO Ginni Rometty – “What the internet did for communications, blockchain will do for trusted transactions” These transactions will not only be financial in nature but every business information will be documented on blockchain open and secured ledgers. With the rapid growth in blockchain technology, the demand for skilled resources and automation tools is also growing very fast.

Resource Crunch Of Cyber Security Analysts

As per the cyber security bureau report, blockchain technology is setting the order of the future; 25% of the organizations worldwide have decided to adopt this technology in their business processes. This clearly shows that cyber security resources are in great demand and there is a resource crunch of qualified cyber security analysts in the market. Reports state that the industry faces a 43% talent shortage in areas like blockchain development security, cloud security, risk management, threat intelligence, data privacy etc. The cost to a company of these resources is also very high due to the high demand for these job skills. At the same time the attrition rate is equally high as numerous job opportunities are available in the market. The team size of blockchain development typically includes developers and security analysts for remediating and mitigating the vulnerabilities. Looking at the pool of vulnerabilities at multiple touchpoints of smart contract development, usually, the security analysis team is significantly big in the organizations. The resource shortage in the cyber security space is posing a challenge to companies in setting up goals of cyber security practices and adaptation of blockchain technology into their businesses.

Resource Crunch Of Automation Tools

Apart from qualified resources, the blockchain development process is heavily dependent on blockchain developers and security analysts. Security analysts work on analyzing and reporting vulnerabilities at each stage of smart contract development. The mundane task of manually checking and identifying vulnerabilities at various stages of development increases the risk of exposure to new vulnerabilities in this process. Developers are generally flooded with the vulnerability lists given by security analysts and do not know how to prioritize remediation and which vulnerability is severe in nature that requires quick action in terms of remediation. Tools that can automate scanning and identifying vulnerabilities into the dApp development are required to be part of the vulnerability management plan of the organization for improvising the smart contract development process.

Communication Gap Between Developers And Cyber Security Analysts

Another challenge in the above process is the communication gap between the developers and security analysts. Generally, the software development process works on the ticketing system without making which task should be taken on priority. In such a case, the developers work on vulnerability lists as and when they are reported by the analysts. This may lead to a lag in remediating some very severe vulnerabilities that can expose the smart contract to an external vulnerability attack. Sometimes the remediation suggested by the analyst is not clearly interpreted by the developer and the communication gap may lead to an unresolved vulnerability in the smart contract. All these trivial issues create a very heavy impact on the development of blockchain smart contracts.

Automation Of Vulnerability Management Process

The process of smart contract vulnerability management typically covers – scanning, identifying, and reporting vulnerabilities for remediation. This process is generally managed by a big team of smart contract developers and security analysts as we discussed. If a tool can perform scanning, identifying, and reporting vulnerabilities with a remediation plan for each vulnerability, along with severity levels of the vulnerability, the process of smart contract development can become faster and foolproof.

The cost of buying or subscribing to the automation tool would be significantly less than hiring a big team for managing vulnerabilities of smart contract development. Organizations would be able to achieve more secure blockchain products and this will increase their market reach as well.

BlockChainSentry Vulnerability Management System has all the above features and also;

• BlockChainSentry is an Ethereum based, scalable, Web3, BaaS Vulnerability management system that allows users to scan the solidity files from local as well as remote drives as it is a stand-alone application.
• It has features like multi-tenancy and version control to give complete visibility on vulnerability management.
• It bridges the gap between smart contract development vis-à-vis vulnerability management of smart contract development as it is usable at multiple touchpoints.
• It scans and suggests quick remediation for vulnerabilities with severity levels which makes it easier for the developers to develop secured smart contracts.

Click on request a demo or contact us if your organization is in the process of making a vulnerability management plan for blockchain development and signup with us to automate vulnerability management for securing your smart contract development.