Security of blockchain projects – TechStory

Information – payment card numbers, phone numbers, e-mail – is always stored in databases. Accordingly, data centers and servers, in which databases are located, are a tasty morsel for hackers. It is important to carry out checks in a timely manner that allow you to identify weaknesses in the information security system. A penetration test is perfect for this purpose. 

Penetration testing not only confirms the existence of vulnerabilities, but also demonstrates how they can be exploited by a real attacker, and whether such an attack can be blocked, detected and properly responded to.

Penetration testing is part of a comprehensive information security audit. A penetration test is an authorized and simulated cyberattack on an IT system to evaluate existing defenses. Firstly, such an independent assessment allows companies to avoid financial and reputational losses. Secondly, certain types of activities require confirmation of compliance with certain safety standards and legislative acts.

Despite the relative novelty, in this area of ​​information security, their own methods and codes of practice have already been formed, and specialized software tools are also used.

Take care of protecting your information

Just imagine how much your gadgets store. Every system has countless points of vulnerability. Pentesting will be enough to identify bugs and weaknesses. The best place to start is with your mobile devices. Make iOS or android penetration testing and gain confidence in the security of your data. Data storage, inter-process communication, proper use of cryptographic keys, and secure networking – any of these steps can make a mistake that will cost your application security. Pentest mobile applications helps to understand whether there is a possibility of unauthorized access to data. 

Blockchain Penetration Testing

Over the past few years, there have been many cases where blockchain technologies have been subjected to cyberattacks and data theft. It follows from this that this technology is not immune to cyberattacks, even given its strong default security factor. 

Blockchain security is achieved by implementing cybersecurity frameworks, security testing methodologies, and secure coding techniques to protect the blockchain solution from online fraud, hacks, and other cyberattacks. Blockchain penetration testing is a security assessment process conducted by ethical hackers or security professionals to test the reliability of a blockchain-based solution or application.

How to Perform Blockchain Penetration Testing

  • Information Gathering and Threat Modeling

This phase includes the following components. Understanding of blockchain architecture; search for entry points of threats within the organization; collection of publicly available data on potential exploits; evaluate the business logic of a smart contract. Setting goals for conducting security testing is also critical. Further development of a full testing strategy. Compliance readiness check. Setting up the testing environment. Creation of test data.

You can use the data from the first step to actively test your blockchain to determine its maturity against best practices and industry guidelines.

The main goal of this step is to exploit any weaknesses or security loopholes found in the previous step. As a rule, this is done manually to get rid of false positives. The exploit phase also includes exfiltrating data from the target and taking care of persistence. Do some tests. Network penetration testing. Penetration testing of web applications. Test against social engineering attacks. Be sure to document what you find.

Who should conduct the pentest

It goes without saying that you should always contact a qualified penetration testing provider. As with any other cybersecurity offering, you should look for a vendor with both organizational expertise and highly trained, experienced professionals.

Blockchain offers many security measures for the solutions that are built on it. However, due to the lack of governance and exploitable vulnerabilities, it is not immune from cyberattacks. The value of cybersecurity can be difficult to demonstrate to non-practitioners. After all, when security works effectively, nothing happens. This makes it difficult to allocate the necessary resources and attention to current security needs. But pentest solves this problem. Therefore, penetration testing becomes important for you. The sooner you discover blockchain security loopholes, the sooner you can fix them and protect your blockchain solutions from hackers.