Data | DeFi Security

Junior auditor strategy: Don’t try to learn everything at once. Run this loop: - study one attack class - map it to a real incident - read the PoC - draft the minimal patch - write 2 tests that would have caught it Repeat until it’s muscle memory.

🤯Protocols would pay >$1000 per run for this. Someone just Open Sourced it for free. MIT Licensed. This AI security tool is proven to get up to 90% coverage post human audits. I haven't seen another one that digs deeper into a codebase. Massive boost for the space🫡

1. Install the drawio MCP server (github.com/jgraph/drawio-…) 2. Prompt Claude "use the drawio MCP server to create a high-level, simple architecture diagram of this codebase" Helps a lot at the start of any audit 🗺️

Releasing Grimoire today! Grimoire is a bit different than the skill releases you might be used to! Instead automatic detection Grimoire is focused on leverage. A hybrid auditing setup that has you outperform both auditors and audit agents 🧵👇

I placed 2nd in the @code4rena @monad contest. Most valid findings out of 1,614 wardens. Here's the process that got me there. And how AI cost me 1st place and ~$100k.

another day 1: learning how to learn and think - critical thinking ed.ted.com/lessons/5-tips… - logical fallacies ed.ted.com/ted_ed_collect… - reframe problem hbr.org/2024/01/to-sol… - 5 whys method interaction-design.org/literature/top… - inductive & deductive reasoning khanacademy.org/math/algebra-h…

✨Introducing evmresearch✨✨ A knowledge graph of nearly everything I've learned about the EVM in the past six years The graph structure emulates the brain, exponentiating research speeds for both humans and agents evmresearch.io

here's an index of 460 common solidity vulnerabilities across 31 unique protocol types scraped from over 10000 solodit findings optimized for LLMs github.com/kadenzipfel/pr…

Ethereum Protocol Study Group for 2026 is finally announced! Starting in less than a week, it took us a while to push out the announcement because we were preparing the biggest curriculum so far blog.ethereum.org/2026/02/17/eth…

Major 2025 security retrospective by @OpenZeppelin. - Key shifts in the Pectra & Fusaka upgrades and new risk vectors - A comprehensive analysis of the year's top exploits. Essential for developers and researchers openzeppelin.com/news/web3-secu…

Have you ever felt like you understand each contract, but you can't make the bigger picture? You can't see where the money flows, or you don't understand the whole purpose of this protocol? Worry not, here is a prompt that will help you build a mental map of the whole protocol in your head so you can remember it easily. Hope it helps🫡 ``` Help me build a complete mental map of this protocol so I can visualize it end-to-end. Do NOT explain contracts in isolation. Explain the protocol in terms of flows. Structure the explanation as follows: 1. Actors: - Who are the main actors? (users, admins, keepers, bots, external protocols) - What each actor is trying to achieve 2. Primary user flows (money-first): - Describe the main things a user can do, in chronological order - For each flow, follow the user’s funds step by step: - Where the money starts - Which contracts it passes through - Where it ends up - Who controls it at each step 3. Contract orchestration: - For each flow, list which contracts participate - Describe each contract’s role using one sentence only - Emphasize *why* the contract exists in the flow 4. State progression: - What high-level protocol state changes as flows execute? - How the protocol moves from “before user action” to “after user action” 5. External integrations: - Identify all external systems (DEXs, oracles, automation, bridges, ERC standards) - Explain: - Why the protocol depends on them - When they are invoked - What assumptions are made about them 6. Full protocol walkthrough: - Narrate a complete, realistic scenario: - User enters the protocol - Uses its core functionality - Money moves - External systems interact - Protocol reaches a stable end state Focus on helping me *run the protocol in my head* with my eyes closed. ```

Q) How to start making money through auditing? Assuming you have built up a decent skillset, the following strategies may work: 1⃣ Pick a protocol niche (DAO, Perps, Dex/AMM, Lending/Borrowing, Bridges/Cross-Chain etc) then study all the past contest & private reports for protocols of that type, learning all the vuln types & gotchas inside-out. Then focus on contests with that protocol type. Eg @windhustler is known as The LayerZero Guru 2⃣ Apply the same technique to bug bounties, especially if you specialize in some really niche stuff like Fuel/Sway or interactions between Solidity/Rust components - some very high value bug bounties have been found in these newer niche areas where there is less demand but also far less competition 3⃣ Choose a service niche to specialize in, provide a great service and market yourself effectively (people have made $ specializing in all sorts of things like gas optimization @PopPunkOnChain , fuzz testing @getreconxyz , formal verification @alexzoid. Aim to post once per day with content for your niche, become known as the expert in that specialized area 4⃣ Publish high-impact research that gets featured in @blockthreat ; you could take all your learnings from 1,2,3 above and use it to write and publish vulnerability deep dives and all sorts of other valuable content 5⃣ Build a brand - a lot of the security business is branding, protocols are buying not just your services but also the brand name. Once you have a decent brand name you can likely start doing private audits for small protocols, especially in this market there is tons of demand 6⃣ Build a portfolio - create a portfolio of your work showcasing your accomplishments. This is great both for getting private audits and also taking a full-time role at a firm 7⃣ Commit - none of the above will happen overnight. Commit to working hard for the next 6-12 months and see your life change. The only people who didn't make it from when I started are the ones who gave up and disappeared - everyone who stuck around and put in the effort is now printing $$$,$$$ and some even more!

Want to get into @Certora Formal Verification super fast from zero? 1) Get how the Prover actually works: docs.certora.com/projects/tutor… 2) Learn the methodology: alexzoid.com/certora-formal… 3) Do a shadow FV from my past private job: github.com/alexzoid-eth/l…

Security researchers, don't sleep on our tool Instascope! We built it to make bug hunting setup easy. With Instascope, you can instantly spin up ready-to-test environments in Foundry for any bounty programs on Ethereum mainnet. - One click - Complete setup - Get hunting