Smart Contract Attacks and Protections: The Importance of a Smart Contract Audit

Smart contracts are built in such a way that they handle complex business processes with utmost correctness and efficiency, without any need to involve any middleman. However, they can be targeted by cyber attackers or malicious-minded people, if not audited properly. Thus, it is necessary to consult a seasoned smart contract audit company to ensure protection from various kinds of security hacks that may result in a huge financial loss and take away your peace of mind. While many people are reluctant to pay the smart contract audit cost, if you compare it with the loss caused due to an unexpected attack, it will seem to be a trivial amount in any case. Therefore, it is better to bear smart contract audit price instead of spending sleepless nights after losing funds and reputation. 

Smart Contract Attacks Explained

Before discussing in detail, the significance of getting in touch with a smart contract audit firm, it needs to be understood what all types of attacks are possible on smart contracts. 

These may be broadly categorized as:

1. Reentrancy Attack

This happens when a malicious-intent contract calls back into the original contract to execute arbitrary code time after time, sending away funds in the process.

2. Overflow and Underflow

This occurs when a variable exceeds the maximum or minimum value limit it has; thereafter, it computes results incorrectly, which may be utilized by attackers.

3. Race Condition

In this type of malfunction, more than one transaction may execute simultaneously, yielding unpredictable or inconsistent results.

4. Time Dependence

Attacks based on time dependence make use of the time functionalities provided by smart contracts so that they can have an opportunity to manipulate a contract’s execution for their benefit in siphoning funds.

5. Denial of Service (DoS)

DoS is an attack that targets the availability of the smart contract, in which the attacker may flood the smart contract with useless traffic or spam so that a valid user cannot use it.

6. Front Running

In this attack, the attacker relays and modifies a transaction before it is confirmed on the blockchain, at the cost of the profit of users other than his.

7. Syntax Error

Syntax errors arise due to incorrect syntax in the smart contract code, and this can prevent the successful deployment or execution of a smart contract. Using the services of a trusted smart contract audit company would mean syntax errors could be detected way in advance before deployment.

8. Attack Call Stack Depth

An attacker constantly calls a contract, forcing the call stack to overflow, creating unexpected results. To avoid such bugs, carefully limit recursion depth. Implement maximum call stack size.

9. Send without Gas

Gasless sending attacks are when the attacker sends a transaction with too little gas in it to execute the behavior of the contract and, hence, security vulnerabilities result. Implement a minimum gas limit and then check the validity of the gas limit before execution.

10. Private Key Disclosure

This attack occurs when an attacker intercepts and steals the private key of a user, thus allowing them unauthorized access to their wallet and smart contracts. Using a hardware wallet, multi-factor authentication, and updating the private key regularly will help in avoiding such a situation.

11. Smart Contract Bug

Myriad reasons may bring about smart contract bugs, including incorrect logic, missing checks, and unhandled exceptions. Additionally, in order to counter this bug, one should use a smart audit contract firm that might help in finding bugs and fixing them before deployment.

Best Ways of Protecting Your Smart Contracts

Smart contracts are not immune to bugs, errors, and vulnerabilities, which can lead to financial loss, data breaches, and legal issues. Don’t forget that spending smart contract audit cost is not as bothersome as facing a security hack. 

Here are some actions you can take to protect your business from an irreparable loss: 

• Seek the Help of a Smart Contract Audit Firm

First and most importantly, your smart contract should be audited by a reputed smart contract audit firm. An audit is an in-depth examination and testing process of the smart contract code to find security vulnerabilities, coding errors, and logical flaws through which the attack could be realized. The smart contract audit company will give a detailed report about their findings and recommendations for remediation.

Perform research among certified auditors with a high degree of blockchain technology understanding and proficiency in smart-contract programming languages, such as Solidity. Check whether the audit service adheres to widely accepted standards and best practices.

• Compare Smart Contract Audit Cost

The smart contract audit cost will vary, considering such factors as the complexity, size, and features of the smart contract in question. Generally speaking, the cost pertaining to smart contract auditing could also vary based on experience and reputation. While the temptation to go for a cheaper audit service might be there, the cost of curing a security breach or bug surely outweighs the smart contract audit price many times. Quality and expertise, therefore, are more important than mere cost in selecting a smart contract audit company.

• Formal Verification

Formal verification provides a mathematical procedure that proves the correctness and security of the code of smart contracts. Once formal verification has been applied to some smart contract code, then it can be ensured that it will behave as expected-that is, with no bugs, vulnerabilities, or errors. Formal verification is a complex and exhaustive process, requiring deep knowledge and tools. It needs to hire an expert in formal verification or a smart contract audit firm that includes formal verification within the scope of services. 

• Security Best Practices

Other important steps towards securing your smart contract include the mere implementation of security best practices for securing your smart contract data and transactions through encryption, access control, and multi-factor authentication. Another very important thing is to keep updating and maintaining your code for any new vulnerabilities or bugs. 

• Community Involvement

The last one is to participate in the Blockchain and Smart Contract community. You will be informed about what’s trending, and what are the threats and solutions in this industry. Forums, conferences, online communities: post on them about your knowledge, learn from others, and collaborate on smart contract projects.

Benefits of Smart Contract Audit

Smart contract audits offer numerous benefits, including:

• Better Security

Auditing a smart contract ensures the security of the contract itself and makes it reliable and bug-free This decreases the chances of an attack or unauthorized access that could affect the integrity of the contract and the protection of funds.

• Cost Savings

Auditing smart contracts could avoid unnecessary costs from attacks and potential security breaches. Audits provide an opportunity to identify and fix early vulnerabilities, thus reducing the chances of costly repercussions later in the future.

• Compliance

Smart contract auditing makes sure that regulatory compliance with industry regulations and best practices is applied to minimize the risk of legal and financial implications.

• Reputation

The presence of a smart contract that is secured and audited boosts the reputation of the project, thus increasing the number of investors and users in the particular project. It shows the commitment to security and transparency that instills trust and confidence in the contract and the project.

Wrap Up

Smart contracts have impacted many industries, from finance to supply chain.  Security and reliability are the key aspects of smart contract development. Therefore, seeking the help of a reliable smart contract audit company ensures that smart contracts are secure and trustworthy and won’t be susceptible to any kind of attacks and vulnerabilities. Many of us might not be comfortable paying the smart contract audit price, but it’s a small investment to gain peace of mind and safeguard the future life of your project.

If topmost security is what you aim for, then Antier is the name for providing in-depth smart contract audit services. Get in touch with us to ensure the fine working of your crypto ventures by integrating flawless smart contracts.