A new CertiK series giving users bite-size tips and info to stay informed and safe in the #crypto space. Episode 11: What is Centralization vs Decentralization vs Distributed Networks? Learn more in under 2 mins! https://www.certik.com/products/pentest Transcript: Centralization, decentralization, and distributed networks are three different systems used for storing data. Centralization has been the status quo for web technology, making websites easy to use. A centralized network processes and stores data on a specific server. They allow engineers to roll out updates and fixes to the host server. Centralized networks often hire security firms to do penetration testing, which simulates a network attack. With centralization, if a server suffers downtime the entire network grinds to a halt. Decentralization offers more security and helps mitigate attacks. A decentralized network operates across many different nodes. Each node holds the entire database and verifies its version against each other to achieve consensus. A decentralized network requires more effort to update, has a greater environmental impact through its energy consumption. A distributed network operates like a decentralized system but may not require each node to host all of its data independently. Increased transparency is a key feature with each node having equal access to the data. This also makes it difficult to change information in the network. Smart contract auditing has risen from new types of attacks on decentralized and distributed networks. Whether it be Penetration Testing or Smart Contract Auditing choosing the right technology will ensure greater success. To learn more about centralization, decentralization, and distributed networks, visit CertiK.com/resources.

#girlgonecrypto #certik #auditreport #education #defi #crypto #blockchain CertiK has teamed up with Girl Gone Crypto to help you understand audits 🧠 An audit is a good first step for every project, but as a user or investor, what do the results mean? See where to go, what to look for, and more on your #crypto journey at: https://certik.com https://www.youtube.com/c/GirlGoneCrypto Transcript: Okay so let’s say you’re checking out a project and are doing your research and you see that it’s been audited. Great, phew, sigh of relief… but hold up… just because a smart contract was audited doesn’t necessarily mean the audit was good. When doing your own research, it’s important to go one step further and actually check out the audit report. Now reading audit reports might sound a little complicated and technical, but it’s actually a lot easier than you think. So in this video, we are going to dive into how to read and evaluate a CertiK audit report. So first of all - what kind of information do these reports actually look at? A security audit is a line-by-line inspection of a smart contract's code. Smart contracts are self-executing agreements between a buyer and seller that are stored on a blockchain. Security audits can reveal vulnerabilities in a smart contract by identifying coding errors and potential risks. CertiK essentially examines these smart contracts and blockchain ecosystems. CertiK’s security experts manually review these contracts, using AI solutions and mathematical approaches to analyze their quality. So now let’s dive into the HOW. Where do you go to find this information and what should you be looking for? When you visit CertiK.com, you’ll notice a search bar on their Security Leaderboard. Type in the name of the particular project you’re interested in. This will take you to the project’s full audit report. Under the Findings section, check to see that the vulnerability issues have been identified and fixed. If a project has unresolved issues, it’s important to research why. CertiK only audits contracts sent to them, so make sure to check which contracts were audited and always review the report in detail. To learn more about smart contracts and security audits, and how you can better do your own research - visit CertiK.com/resources

#certik #flashloan #defi #blockchain #cryptocurrency A new CertiK series giving users bite-size tips and info to stay informed and safe in the #crypto space. Episode 9: What is a Flash Loan? Learn how a #flashloan works and more in under 2 mins! https://certik.com/products/skynet Transcript: A flash loan is an uncollateralized short-term loan. They are a new invention in the Defi space, introduced by the lending protocol, AAVE. A smart contract is used to borrow and repay flash loans in the same transaction. If a flash loan isn’t repaid in the same transaction, the transaction fails, making it as though the loan never happened. Flash loans present an opportunity for high-frequency and arbitrage traders with the ability to instantaneously access capital, allowing a trader to sell on one exchange and purchase on another. Arbitrage was more common when liquidity was low and exchanges didn’t share price feeds. Flash loans have been used to attack exchanges and protocols. This occurs when a malicious user takes out a flash loan from a lending protocol and uses the borrowed funds to manipulate prices on another protocol. Flash loan attacks are very lucrative because the attacker does not have to deploy a lot of capital to carry out the attack. Smart contract audits are a necessary first step in mitigating a flash loan attack. CertiK’s Skynet on-chain monitoring helps recognize these attacks in real-time and broadcasts community alerts on the Security Leaderboard. From smart contract audits to on-chain monitoring, there are tools in place to help projects build safer protocols from the ground up. To learn more about flash loans, visit CertiK.com/resources.