Ethereum Welcomes Hackers to Find Code Weakness, Offers 2M in Bounty
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In collaboration with Immunefi, a Web3 bug bounty platform, the Ethereum Foundation introduces “attackathon” with $2 million in the reward pool. Attackathon is a hackathon-style contest aimed at boosting the protocol’s security by identifying and eliminating vulnerabilities in the Ethereum network.
On July 8, the team behind Ethereum Protocol Security (EPS) announced in a blog post that the hackathon would last for four weeks. In the meantime, researchers and developers will be tasked with finding compromised network errors and flaws in the Ethereum protocol’s code. Consequently, the host will reward the most comprehensive and compliant report.
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On its official X account (formerly Twitter), Immunefi stated:
The Attackathon will showcase Immunefi’s elite security researcher community, competing to secure the protocol in a time-boxed audit competition with the potential to earn massive rewards, reputation, and glory. Top performing whitehats will have their skills recognized in front of the entire Ethereum community.
Ethereum Bug Bounty Program Offers $2M in Reward
The EPS team disclosed that they have already allocated $500K for the bounty program and are seeking to raise another $1.5 million from various sponsors by August 1. Given that, the Ethereum Foundation has also invited developers and ecosystem projects to contribute to the bounty’s reward pool.
The audit competition will test the skills of crypto enthusiasts and ecosystem projects to find potential vulnerabilities in the protocol. Similarly, these efforts will also create an engaged community. While addressing concerns about this initiative, Fredrik Svantes, Protocol Security Research Lead at the Ethereum Foundation, stated:
As part of our efforts to help further secure the Ethereum protocol, we are excited to launch the first audit competition targeting the protocol itself, and can’t wait to see what types of vulnerabilities it will surface.
After the event, the hosting body, Immunefi, will compile all the findings and produce a comprehensive report outlining the identified bugs.
Hackathons for Future Upgrades
The EPS team intends to host similar hackathons for every Ethereum codebase hard fork, with plans to organize an event for the upcoming “Pectra” hard fork, anticipated to go live later in 2024 or early 2025.
The proposed upgrade combines the “Prague” and “Electra” upgrades in the Ethereum network. Its integration will eradicate the need for a 24-word private key to operate a Web3 wallet, which will run purely on smart contracts.
About Hackathon
Hackathons are quite common practices in advanced technology and crypto spaces. It plays a crucial role to enhance network security and integrity. By hosting such events, crypto projects remove potential disturbances in the blockchain software as identifying malware in the system prevents its exploitation by cyber security criminals.
Immunefi is the largest Web3 bug bounty hunting platform, boasting more than 45k researchers and developers. Rewarding its users with more than $100 million in bounty programs, Immunefi claims to have safeguarded more than $25 billion in assets from exploitation. Its website covers active bounties in different projects; LayerZero offered the highest single bounty of $15 million at Immunefi.
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