Is a cryptocurrency worth investing in? We can easily look at traditional benchmarks such as market opportunity, sensible value proposition and proven team. But what about security? When we are talking about traditional Saas or software businesses, we expect multi-layered and robust digital security protections. These protections include encryption, firewalls antivirus software and scanning. DeFi projects would all respond the same to the question: The blockchain is indestructible and, as far as our knowledge, unhackable. This is apparently true, but it doesn’t mean that any of those projects are functionally “safe”.

The decentralized economy and blockchains have been rightly praised as bringing in inclusion, immutability and unprecedented network security to finance. The track record in consumer protection and transactional safety has left much to be desired. Systeme built on blockchains like borrowing, passive income generation and staking can still be susceptible to attack or exploitation.

Hacks are seen as “just a part of life”

“We’re sorry to report that @PolyNetwork was attacked via @BinanceChain and @ethereum. @0xPolygon assets were stolen from hacker’s addresses.

This was the Poly Network tweet on August 10. It confirmed that $610 million had been taken from their protocol. The hack is now the most significant known DeFi attack in history. Poly Network was unable to intervene to stop the damage after the exploit was discovered. After the news about the loss, Poly Network’s (POLY), price plummeted. It’s important to note that the exploit that led to this loss was carried out on 184 blocks on the blockchain, over roughly 40 minutes. The key to mitigating this loss would have been to detect the first suspicious transaction.

Hacks and exploits have already caused the loss of over $1.2 billion worth of cryptocurrency in 2021. Poly claims that it only took a few hours for hackers to find and fix the flaws which led to the above attack. The unfortunate DeFi losses of August 10, 2018, were not due to a serious flaw or coordinated global hack, as they are the result of small cracks in consumer systems.

Solution: Build a Fort (a).

Forta, a blockchain-based project raised $23 through an oversubscribed Series B this summer. Last Monday saw the debut of new features which significantly enhance agent developers’ and users experiences. Forta’s mission is to provide runtime security beyond what the blockchain can change for any protocols or applications. Forta uses a network of “Agent” scripts that monitor smart contracts (programs stored on a blockchain) and protocols for hacks, unusual transactions, and other suspicious activity. In real time, alerts are sent to investors and protocol operators to allow them to take steps to mitigate and prevent any potential damage.

Unfortunately, rantime security wasn’t available until now to detect and prevent hacks such as those experienced by Indexed and Poly Network. Forta now has a live web page and is available to everyone.

How does Forta become live now?

Forta’s app launches today, building on the success of beta testing since July. It offers a range of new features, quality-of-life improvements, and allows protocol owners, investors and protocol developers to quickly find alerts and subscribe to them. These will be sent to their email and Slack. This alert gives protocol developers, investors and integrators an immediate way to know when security alarms sound. The Explorer is invaluable in these critical circumstances. Forta will cover the gas costs associated with pseudonymous publishing of agents by developers. Forta Connect is also a profile of an agent developer. This includes details about the developers who have published their agents and any badges or awards they received for their work. When detecting a particularly sensitive vulnerability or exploit, developers, and investors now have the option to keep it private and react to it before notifying their communities — or, inadvertently, a hacker.

Satoshi is perfect. But as blockchain developers, investors and supporters, we’re not. While the explosion in cryptocurrencies and smart contract technology has created millions of opportunities, it has repeatedly proven that none of those non-Satoshi developers is perfect or omniscient. Not only is running smart contract security a great idea but it is also vital to protect digital assets. Forta.org has the ability to help you safeguard your future investments.

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