Smart contract audits have become a cornerstone of the blockchain sector. Contracts need to be rigorously audited to remain safe and efficient. Let’s explore smart contract auditing and its importance in the blockchain industry.
What is a smart contract?
It is a self-executing contract written on a blockchain. It is a protocol that automatically executes once predefined conditions are met. Blockchains are immutable, meaning any smart contracts deployed on them can’t be altered. This characteristic highlights the need for audits to ensure the contract is near flawless before deployment.
What is a smart contract audit?
It is an extensive review of a contract’s codebase to identify and fix security vulnerabilities. It also checks for operational inefficiencies that can be fixed to improve the contract’s performance.
With their extensive knowledge and experience, auditing professionals meticulously review blockchain projects to pinpoint security flaws. Their expertise is crucial in ensuring the safety of blockchain transactions, which are irreversible. This thorough process is necessary as even a small bug can enable a hacker to siphon user funds, a risk no one wants to take.
The auditing process
These are the steps involved in a smart contract audit:
1. Setting objectives
The first step is establishing clear objectives for the audit. The project developer tells the auditors what they want, usually for their decentralized app to be secure and reliable and deliver its intended functions. The developer and auditor negotiate fees and turnaround time at this stage.
2. Documentation
Auditors must first understand a blockchain project before auditing it. Hence, they need all relevant technical documentation about the project to study and understand its objectives. The developer provides the auditing team with the whitepaper, comments, specifications, and user guides.
3. Automated and manual testing
Testing is the next step once the technical documentation is ready. Auditors conduct both automated and manual tests to identify security bugs and operational inefficiencies.
Automated tools can easily spot mundane errors in a blockchain app, such as integer overflows and underflows, that could be exploited to steal funds. Automated tools feed the app random data to see how it performs under varying conditions. Any identified error is documented and given to the project’s developer.
The auditing team manually reviews the codebase to spot tricky flaws that automated tools can’t identify. They examine the lines of code to check for flaws hindering the app’s speed and performance. For example, they can look for ways to optimize transaction speed and fees to make users happier.
4. Resolving issues
The auditing team formally documents every issue identified in the blockchain app and suggests ways to fix them. This formal report is given to the developer so that the recommended fixes can be implemented. Afterwards, the auditor confirms that the fixes were implemented, certifying that the app is fit for deployment.
5. Audit report
With all said and done, the auditors prepare a detailed report for the project’s stakeholders. This report shows all the identified issues and suggested fixes and certifies that the developer implemented the fixes. It’s a rubber stamp that the project is fit to use, and this report is usually showcased on the project’s website.Â
Benefits of smart contract auditing
- It helps you avoid potential risks that could cause users to lose their funds.
- It increases your project’s credibility with all stakeholders (users, partners, and investors).
- It optimizes your contract’s code for faster performance and speed, which keeps users satisfied.
