In order to guarantee that each smart contract project receives the most value from a security audit, we are happy to announce the publication of a new Comprehensive Audit Readiness Guide. Following these recommendations will assist guarantee that the audit procedure runs well regardless of whether developers use audit provider. More generally, the recommendations are helpful things to take into account when creating any effective Web3 protocol.
The Web3 community has evolved to consider smart contract audits as the norm. A protocol's security posture can be significantly enhanced by a team of specialists reviewing it line by line. In addition, a public report outlining the flaws they discovered and how they were rectified will greatly help convince potential users that the protocol is secure.
Should developers rush to obtain audits given their clear benefits? No, not always. A protocol must have attained a specific degree of maturity in order to benefit the most from an audit. This often indicates that the code has already been deployed, tested, and documented. If the audit is conducted too early in the development cycle, subsequent modifications to the code will make it useless as a safety guarantee. The possibilities for patching vulnerabilities are far more constrained if the audit is conducted after the code has been released.
Audit Readiness Considerations
The Team: It takes a team designed for success to develop a successful procedure. The team must first have all the abilities and expertise required to carry out the job. (The book lists eight other talents in addition to project-specific competencies that every team should possess.) The team needs a reliable, efficient system for planning and carrying out tasks, second. Third, project owners should pick a team leader who has the abilities and wisdom to handle conflict and keep the team on track. To assist teams think through these concerns, the handbook offers thorough questions and useful resources.
The Community: An active and dynamic community is essential to the success of a Web3 project. Project teams must think about how they will guarantee that outside developers will take part and that potential users would invest. The manual covers selecting a software licence, carrying out community outreach, and gathering community feedback in order to achieve these goals.
The Code: Obviously, the state of the code is the most critical aspect of audit readiness. First, the code itself should be clean, readable, and modular. For name standards, style, structure, and other crucial factors, the book offers advice and resources. Second, a quick and complete test suite should be included in the code. Auditors consider the state of a test suite to be a reliable indicator of the state of the code itself. Third, there should be clear, consistent, and up-to-date sources of information about the project throughout the code, including a Readme, comprehensive documentation, inline comments, and other sources.
An audit is about relationships
It's crucial to keep in mind that an audit involves more than just examining the code. Its goal is to assist in creating the trust required to draw in a vibrant community that is eager to commit its time and resources to a project. It takes careful preparation and methodical execution in all of the areas mentioned in the book to foster that community. Because of this, a trustworthy auditor will have a discussion with a potential client about each item in the guide to determine whether the project is ready to benefit the most from an audit.
