Ethereum Smart Contract Audit: All You Need to Know

UTC by Andy Watson · 4 min read
Ethereum Smart Contract Audit: All You Need to Know
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Hackers are seeking to exploit any weakness in the code of your project for commercial gain causing huge financial losses and reputation damage, so a smart contract audit performed in time can save your company from failure.

A smart contract is a virtual computer program that uses a specified algorithm performed automatically when the predetermined conditions of the agreement are fulfilled. The technology is used as a medium to enforce the performance of digital contracts removing the intermediaries from the procedure such as bank services or lawyers, making the whole process transparent and confidential. Also, it is more reliable than a traditional fiat transaction thanks to its immutability. The transactional data is stored on a distributed ledger that functions on the basis of p2p governance and can’t be modified.

Smart contract examples include the use case of a supply chain of different products that are sold and distributed throughout the world. Digital contracts are used to track the commodities’ location thus making the international logistics more cost-efficient thanks to the automated procedure. The payment is conducted upon the delivery of products automatically as well.

Smart transactions fueling smart contracts are also convenient for cryptocurrency, stock, and derivatives trading enabling management and tracking of the assets, as they are transferred from one owner to another. Automatic verification of every transaction speeds up the procedure and reduces associated costs.

Financial institutions resort to this technology to conduct automatic payments, while insurance companies can accelerate the processing of claims with smart contracts. In addition to finance, there is a wide array of spheres where the technology can be used.

However, the technology also has its shortcomings. For instance, legal regulation is still poorly developed in the majority of countries. Besides, the process of tokenization involves the development of an IT infrastructure that can be costly for small companies.

There are also problems in the Ethereum network that still suffers from the scalability issue which entails a lower transaction processing speed. Another serious problem is the exposure of code to bugs and vulnerabilities. This is where smart contract audit services can be useful as they can fortify the code by preventing the issues and solving the possible security flaws.

How does a Smart Contract Audit Work?

Smart contract auditing is an analysis of smart contracts underlying a blockchain app to detect and correct errors and vulnerabilities of the code. It serves to remove design issues and improve the security of the project. The stages of the auditing process include:

  1. Assessment of technical specifications and documents of the project.
  2. A testing stage that helps to detect bugs.
  3. Auditing with automated tools that analyze a program trying to identify common pitfalls.
  4. Manual analysis that minimizes the chances of skipped errors.
  5. Creation of the report that reveals the flaws of the code.

The final step of an audit can also include experts’ recommendations on its enhancement.

Ethereum Contract Audits

Ethereum contract audits are performed via testing and their exposure to diverse challenges to highlight technical, operational, and cybersecurity risks. The auditors deliberately test the code and even simulate hackers’ attacks to minimize such threats in the future. In this way, ETH contract audits give the assurance to the customers that the contract can be trusted.

When the token is listed on an exchange, the platform can ask for the auditing report to make sure that the project is trustworthy. This is where Token Guard can help. The service uses automated sophisticated tools to audit token smart contracts and deliver a security audit report on the project.

Benefits of Smart Contract Audits

It is essential to conduct the code auditing before the launch of the project. It will help companies and startups to:

  • Avoid high financial losses;
  • Make sure everything works properly;
  • Protect their reputation;
  • Give investors more confidence in the business they support;
  • Optimize and improve work of the system;
  • Monitor security vulnerabilities;
  • Provide assurance to the customers that their assets are well protected and hackers won’t get access to them.

Hackers are seeking to exploit any weakness they can detect in the code of your project for commercial gain causing huge financial losses and reputation damage, so a smart contract audit performed in time can save your company from failure. Blockhunters safeguards your assets from hacking incidents and can help you secure your blockchain to avoid code-related breaches.

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