Fundamentals of Smart Contract Security

by Richard Ma, Jan Gorzny, Edward Zulkoski

Written by security experts at the forefront of this dynamic industry, this book teaches state-of-the-art smart contract security principles and practices.Smart contracts are an innovative application of blockchain technology. Acting as decentralized custodians of digital assets, they allow us to transfer value and information more effectively by reducing the need to trust a third party. By eliminating the need for intermediaries, smart contracts have the potential to massively scale the world economy and unleash the potential for faster and more efficient solutions than traditional systems could ever provide. But there's one while blockchains are secure, smart contracts are not.

Security vulnerabilities in smart contracts have led to over $250 million USD in value to be lost or stolen. For smart contract technology to achieve its full potential, these security vulnerabilities need to be addressed. Written by security experts at the forefront of this dynamic industry, this book teaches state-of-the-art smart contract security principles and practices. Help us secure the future of blockchain technology and join us at the forefront today!

207 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 28, 2019

Reviews

[Woflmao · Rating 3 out of 5]

Short, overpriced and poorly produced book, but it gives a decent overview of the foundations of the Ethereum blockchain and common security flaws in smart contracts written in the Solidity language (which would be more aptly named "Fragility") as of 2019. It is certainly helpful to have some prior exposure to the technical details of smart contract programming before reading this book.
It also contains a good list of references, albeit completely unordered.

[Quinn Dougherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fine for what it is-- just 118 pages, just roughly 40% of it is applicable outside of ethereum. I still read the ethereum parts (even tho my job is in cardano) because I'm honing security mindset and need to read about a zoo of vulnerabilities and attacks. I found myself getting the most out of chapter 2 and sort of 3, where they exposit the blockchain and smart contract world. At least, in this section, they're clear about the distinctions between ethereum and bitcoin!

My overall takeaway is something that was on my mind after having written a morsel of solidity then getting a job in the cardano ecosystem: solidity is just too brittle and error prone, you should bet on cardano instead!

The tentpole of the book is chapter 4: common security flaws, something like 40 pages of attacks and mitigations. Highly recommended to anyone working in ethereum.

[AARON M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fairly comprehensive review of smart contract security fundamentals. However, the industry moves so fast, even in early 2020 (at time of this review) some of the material appears a little dated.

The content is all Ethereum /Solidity focused and does not have any information on other protocols that aren't EVM-based.

Overall, a decent historical reference of very public smart contract hacks in Ethereum's early years to have lying around.

[Ethan J · Rating 3 out of 5]

good reference, but could have explained things a bit simpler