Blockchain technology has been slated as the most relevant to go together with the modern industries. However, some people are still concerned about some security issues. Although blockchain is supposed to be secure, it still has slits to consider.
While it is safe, the apps backed with the blockchain might still be prone to cyber-attacks.
The apps will connect to the blockchain with the help of smart contracts.
Smart Contracts have been implemented in several types of agreements like supply chain management, ICOs, etc. These have been the hottest spot in the blockchain tech application. But one will need to audit the smart contracts to see if there are any security matters.
The audit will also help you as a project owner to make sure that the contracts work correctly.
To ensure the safety of the blockchain apps, there is a need for a thorough smart contract audit.
It won’t be surprising to see some errors, bugs, and rooms for improvement. But that’s the point. Finding such information is very important to improve the solutions for your business.
Here is how to conduct the smart contract audit properly.
What is a Smart Contract Audit?
It can be defined as meticulous auditing activity to check the blockchain apps’ smart contracts to discover the errors, bugs, security issues, and other issues. INC4 is a leading smart contract auditing provider who will help you to conduct the procedure.
Typically, there are some steps to take.
Full Specification check
INC4 will require the full specification, which consists of the infrastructure of the projects. This will also guide the auditing team to comprehend the code they should use to command specific functions. They can also check those codes to see if these work or not.
The full spec will be the guide for the smart contract audit process.
Code freeze
The code freeze means that the code is in the final phase. That means there is no modification involved again. The developers should be able to make sure that they’ve reached the final draft. It is the only term used when a particular software development has reached its final stage. The auditing process will come before the software is deployed to the production environment.
The code freeze is a pivotal step in smart contract audit. The professional auditors will make sure that the exact time of the code freezes. It is crucial to make sure that the developers fix any error codes. When it comes to the final draft stage, the final check must be done before the testing phase.
Two parties will take the grounds of this step. The project team, we assume it is your project. And the audit team, the professionals who will audit the smart contracts.
Both the project team and audit team should be on the same page regarding the audited codes.
Test suite
To find the errors and bugs, INC4 will run a series of thorough tests.
The “thorough” tests mean that these procedures work to test the individual functions to group functions. It will test smaller code groups to the larger chunks in detail. The tests will reveal the bugs earlier to fix them and prevent these from affecting the project.
The results of tests will ensure both the project party and the auditor party have common ground in understanding the performance and features.
Testing information is captured in responsible documentation, which the auditors will use to get insight into the project features and functions.
Conducting the test suite is an important activity. If the tests pass, all parties can have peace of mind since there is no significant issue.
If the test result is the opposite, it is also good because the developers will find the errors and fix them earlier before continuing the smart contract audit. Minor bugs can be fixed during the auditing. But if the errors are too many, the auditors might suggest the developers fix the codebase first before proceeding with the audit process.
The tests coverage
It is essential to know that not all companies offer full test line coverage. The amount of code evaluated will depend on the service you choose or provided by the auditors.
In this case, INC4 is ready to help you with the greater number code of the test. The more code tested, the more features are tested.
Ones would expect 100% of the line coverage. But in most cases, the good numbers can be between 85% to 90% line coverage in the smart contract audit. These ranges of percentage are deemed as reasonable in most projects.
If the percentage of coverage is lower than 85%, it can be a bad indication. In this case, the project team will need to conduct tests again before deploying the production environment’s software.
The Code analysis method
The smart contract audit in code analysis can be done in two methods: Automatic and manual. Some projects are fine with automated bug analysis. But some require a manual analysis tool to make sure that there is no stuff missed by the tool.
In the automated analysis, the auditors will use high-quality tools to analyze the software to determine the inputs or origins to execute.
These tools can speed up the auditing tasks, enhancing auditors’ capabilities in identifying errors in code. The appropriate analysis method can also reduce the auditing turnaround time and get rid of the reworking that can waste the resources.
An automated analysis tool is not a flawless solution. These tools might report false positives. To ensure that the auditors have removed the false positives, a manual analysis must be conducted. In this case, the experienced auditors in INC4 will look at the code and compare the results. This will minimize the chance of errors.
Reporting the smart contract audit
The INC4 smart contract audit will then make the report that will be presented to the project team. Both the auditing team and the project team will discuss the findings and follow up to find the best solutions to fix the particular project’s vulnerabilities.