How do you check or audit your dApp?

Decentralization is safe and secure but sometimes malicious attacks may happen in the dApps. This is because of the lack of security audits conducted in the dApp.

So, developing a dApp with string security protocols is the first thing on top of all. Addressing this importance, we at iMeta Technologies have been maintaining a separate team for dApp auditing services.

People in the team have proven experience in providing comprehensive dApp auditing services . They can give you suggestions like run time analysis and static gas optimization.

In this blog, we will go deep down on how to audit your dApp step by step? It may help you to prepare for the dApp launch phase and hence you don’t need to worry about security breaches. 
 

What is dApp Audit?
 

dApp is a decentralized software application operated by the underlying blockchain technology. dApps can be accessed on a  P2P network which means a single user can't control full access.

dApp audit helps to check the performance, security, and reliability of the decentralized application. Blockchain security experts will test out the smart contract code and provide valuable suggestions for improvement.

In this audit, they will test the logic, architecture, and application security measures to detect any issues in both Manual and Automatic Processes. 

Before proceeding the dApp auditing you must focus on these following things.
 

Before Auditing must know this
 

• Complete Development work
• Review the Code Document
• Compile Dapps Functionality
• Testing Environment Setup
• Consult with an dApp Audit Firm
• Draft objective of dApp 
• Accept on Deliverable and Deadlines
   

How do you audit your dApp?
 

Decentralization App Auditing is the crucial step for preventing attacks by the anonymous as we said. You should test both front-end user interface and back-end smart contract logic in your dApp. 
 

Step-by-Step Guide for dApp Audit
 

Step 1: Specify your Goals

The first step of your dApp auditing is specifying your goals. You must be clear on the audit objectives. Your goals should be clear, attainable, and time-bound.

This will keep you on task and ensure that you are paying close attention to every crucial detail in the app.
 

Step 2: Choosing an Audit Team
 

Selecting the right auditing team is significant for your dApp audit. Ensure the audit team has Smart Contract Auditors, Cryptography Experts, Penetration Testers, Tokenomics Specialists and Blockchain Security Experts.

By assembling a team like this, you can split up the process and conclude the auditing task easier.

Get in touch with us to get detailed dApp consultation.
 

Step 3: Smart Contract Auditing
 

Smart Contract Audit is crucial because possible security flaws are found here. The solidity experts must check the smart contract first to check the code to find any possible vulnerability that attacks against it.

They can manually review the code and check against reentrancy attacks, integer overflows, and access control issues. Because these are the flaws that were carried out by scammers in the past. 

Like money theft, loss of confidential data, and Dapps Operation Interruption might happen if it is not audited.
 

Step 4: Examine the Dapp
 

To examine properly, you should check whether blockchain is integrated securely. You have to access the risk associated with the blockchain chosen. Test out how dApp handles consensus mechanisms and transaction fees.

Possible security loopholes are injection attacks and cross-site scripting which you should have separate eyes on. Some of these steps might help you to test your Dapp Effectively.

• Utilize automated testing tools
• Perform Manual testing
• Verify each dApp functionality
• Record test results
   

Step 5: Reviewing Security Reports

This step is very important for finding any malicious risks and vulnerabilities in dApp. When reviewing the security, make use of automated tools by injecting rule based testing.

After examining the reports, the concerns should be ranked and should be sent to the developers team for further iteration.
 

Step 6: Audit Report Completion
 

This is the last step of dApp auditing so the auditing team must carefully check during the process. The audit’s findings, including any problems or vulnerabilities found, should be  properly mentioned in the report.

Maybe this will be taken as suggestions to enhance the dApps security, which has to be given prior according to their seriousness. 

In our audit, we test both manually and use advanced automated tools for dApp auditing.
 

Tools to Discover Vulnerability
 

As a dApp auditing expert, we can’t find all malicious files. We might miss out on some codes. Hence, we need some tool assistance to reduce our work and give effective results for checking the vulnerability issues. Just check out the tools here

• Mythril - Smart contract checking
   
• Slither -  Prevent issues on the smart contract level code
   
• Echidna - Software for inputs a computer program 
   
• Manticore - Vulnerabilities in your code logic
   

Benefits of dApp Auditing 
 

• Identifying potential vulnerabilities
• Intended project’s goals 
• Increases user and investor
• Project reliability and security
   

Final Thoughts
 

If you don’t know how to dApp audit, think about hiring a reputable dApp auditing firm to make the job easier.

On the other side when you have developers in-house, just assist them to go in the right direction.

It is not advisable to go with first time developers since they might cause some code issues. 

We know that this is just a basic guide that gives you a holistic overview. Deep technical nuances are not discussed here.

To drill down the dApp inch by inch, you need experts to check vulnerabilities in code, design, architecture, and backend smart contracts.

After this, you can release it to the blockchain network and deploy your dApp.