Cybersecurity is an crucial trouble within the contemporary, technologically superior world. Over the years, and because the advent of the arena extensive internet, exceptional techniques had been devised to improve cybersecurity. One of the modern-day iterations has been the creation of clever contracts.
Smart contracts are like regular contracts but are written as computer programs, existing on a blockchain, and set to be automatically enforced when certain pre-defined conditions have been met. However, smart contracts are not without their security concerns. Issues like source code errors, redundant functionality, and negligence can lead to poor, smart contract security, which could have far-reaching consequences.
The exact information is that there are methods to make smart contracts stable and thereby mitigate these results.
Read on to find out how.
What are Smart Contracts?
Smart contracts are contracts written in code and used to enforce agreements on a blockchain network. Like traditional contracts, smart contracts represent a consensus among parties but have the added functionality of being automatically executed. This means that they are autonomous and do not require the active involvement of the concerned parties at the point of enforcement.
Smart contracts own many key characteristics that differentiate them from and lead them to advanced to standard smart contracts.
Firstly, smart contracts are distributed, meaning that all people at the community can validate a clever contract. Secondly, they’re immutable and can’t be modified as soon as hooked up.
Finally, clever contracts also are transparent, and any participant at the community can view their phrases.
Additionally, smart contracts are cost-efficient, accurate, and ensure trust, as a well-written smart contract cannot be manipulated or hijacked by fraudulent actors.
Many blockchain platforms currently offer clever settlement functionality. The maximum popular platform for creating smart contracts is the Ethereum blockchain, with other famous blockchains for clever contract creation being Bitcoin, EOS, Tezos, Cardano, and Hyperledger Fabric. Each of these blockchain networks has a one-of-a-kind programming language and consensus algorithm and, therefore, one-of-a-kind strengths and weaknesses.
Factors That Undermine Smart Contract Security
Smart contracts can be susceptible to security breaches. The most notable causes of security problems in smart contracts are the type of virtual machine used to write a smart contract and the source code of the smart contract.
Virtual Machines
The virtual machine used to write a smart contract may present some inherent security problems. For example, smart contracts written using the Ethereum Virtual Machine (EVM) tend to run into errors like access control issues and immutable defects resulting from errors in the programming of the smart contract’s code.
Source Code
Source code issues are the leading cause of smart contract vulnerabilities. In addition, the different programming languages and consensus mechanisms used by these blockchain networks can cause problems for developers who may not have a solid background in similar languages.
For example, smart contracts on Ethereum are written using Solidity. Unfortunately, Solidity is similar to C++ and Javascript, and developers without a strong background in either language may struggle with writing smart contracts, thereby ending up writing poorly secured code. To secure code in apps and software, you need a Code Signing Certificate that ensures end users about code integrity and high encryption.
How to Make Smart Contracts Secure
Because source code problems are the main cause of smart contract vulnerabilities, securing a smart contract begins from the programming phase. Therefore, this is the most crucial stage in developing secure smart contracts.
The following are ideas to consider if you are serious about building secure smart contracts:
Keep Your Smart Contract Lean and Efficient
The wide array of functionality that smart contracts offer may increase the temptation to create complex multi-functional smart contracts. However, these extra features may come at the cost of decreased security.
To mitigate against the security issues accompanying excessive functionality, some blockchain networks like Cardano and Zilliqa purposely restrict what can be included in smart contracts.
Employ Smart Contract Development Best Practices
Like regular programming, smart contract programming languages also have their standards and specifications. These standards are blockchain-specific and must be adhered to when writing smart contracts.
Failure to work according to these standards may have far-reaching consequences that transcend those associated with regular programming. Because of the nature of blockchain networks and the volume of financial transactions that occur on the blockchain daily, developing faulty smart contracts may be a very costly error.
Be Strategic About Programming Language Selection
Each blockchain has languages that best suit its smart contract development. However, not all of these languages are designed with a security-first approach. Creating secure smart contracts requires utilizing a language that prioritizes security and works well with the chosen blockchain network. In some instances, programmers have even created their languages for deploying smart contracts on blockchain networks.
However, regardless of the chosen language or approach to development, following development best practices is bound to give the best results—especially when used alongside languages that prioritize network security.
Audit Your Smart Contract’s Security
This is a very critical step in ensuring the creation of secure smart contracts. After developing a smart contract, testing its capabilities and checking for design or operational flaws is non-negotiable. Testing frameworks like Truffle, GTest, and EOSFactory may be deployed depending on the blockchain network used to develop a smart contract.
Think of smart contract security auditing like network security auditing on the world wide web. Before a browser grants access to a site, the site must present security. This is a form of auditing, and no network security procedure—blockchain or otherwise—is complete without it.
Conclusion
The concept of clever contracts changed into conceived with protection in thoughts and to remedy the troubles with traditional contracts. However, that isn’t to mention that clever contracts do no longer from time to time run into their security issues. Ultimately, it’s miles as much as the builders and the parties worried in drafting a clever contract to make certain that the agreement phrases are properly-described, the proper programming language is chosen, and that the security of the underlying application is airtight.
