Smart contracts on Ethereum: how to check their level of security?

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Smart Contracts on Ethereum how to check their
level of security?
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Definition of the notion of Decentralized
Autonomous Organization or DAO
The Ethereum blockchain was able to take part in
The DAO project initiative funded by blockchain
users. This notion designates in English
Decentralized Autonomous Organization (or
decentralized autonomous organization). DAOs
refer to organizations aimed at mitigating the
vulnerability of code and thus smart contracts on
a blockchain. Indeed, this can play a key role in
reassuring potential investors about the
diversity of existing blockchains. The challenge
is therefore to enhance certain conformity on the
blockchain and thus try to bring a secure status
to the smart contract.
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Definition of the notion of Decentralized
Autonomous Organization or DAO
This DAO was however finally hacked on June 17,
2016 and the cryptocurrency experienced
considerable danger. According to Ethereum, this
event is "an earthquake in the Ethereum
ecosystem more than a financial loss, it is
above all a profound disappointment and a
collective knowledge of the enormous attack
surface of Ethereum." The legitimate question to
ask is ultimately how to ensure better security
after such events. How to ensure, more generally,
the security of a smart contract?
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The smart contract security audit procedure
Ethereum is far from being the only blockchain to
be scrutinized by Internet users and investors,
but since its merger allowing it to develop its
method, some have highlighted the potential past
security risks, as previously stated, but also
those to come. If The DAO was the victim of a
hacker attack in 2016, the same event is repeated
five years later, which only reinforces this
desire to assess the vulnerabilities of an
investment on Ethereum but also of the smart
contract in it more broadly. Indeed, the smart
contract remains, as its name indicates, the
element allowing any contractualization. The
analysis of protocols and movements on a
blockchain can thus go through a procedure called
an Ethereum smart contract audit.
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The smart contract security audit procedure
A technical subject matter expert will review the
code. Indeed, simple small errors in the code
allow the escape of colossal sums. This procedure
makes it possible to draw up an assessment, a
report of the search for faults is carried
out. The main stage of the procedure consists in
carrying out several tests in order to report on
the degree of possibility of the occurrence of
security breaches. But the question that arises
is whether these audits are able to predict any
type of attack. The technology associated with
the blockchain is continually seeking refinement
and improvement, but the attacks are also
becoming more robust.
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The development of smart contract audit companies
Many companies are developing in this way with
the mission of auditing these famous smart
contracts. In Europe, examples of structures are
in Germany with for example SolidProof and
Chainsulting. In France, some traditional audit
firms are taking up the subject and are also
developing technological solutions to question
the security of a blockchain. These solutions
thus open up the possibility of auditing the
security of several cryptocurrencies, among which
we find ether but also others such as bitcoin or
Ripple. The choice of the actor to be favored is
therefore a step that should not be
underestimated in the context of a verification
of the security of a smart contract. We therefore
recommend always giving the greatest importance
to the risk mapping stage of any project
implementing contractual support such as the
smart contract.