Quantstamp, a blockchain security platform, is aiming to tackle flash loan attacks with its new service, Economic Exploit Analysis. The service is designed to detect common attack pathways used by hackers before protocols are hacked, to help reduce the number of successful attacks.
The Economic Exploit Analysis has already been released in collaboration with researchers from the University of Toronto. It is available to both deployed and undeployed protocols, and Quantstamp hopes it will stop the estimated $207 million in tokens that have been lost to flash loan attacks in the first half of the year.
Flash loan attacks are when someone takes advantage of a vulnerability in a smart contract to get a quick loan, or by convincing the contract owner to give them a loan. These attacks can completely drain the total value locked (TVL) of a DeFi protocol.
Martin Derka, head of new initiatives at Quantstamp, commented: “DeFi has the potential to revolutionize the global financial infrastructure for the better, but its success depends on us being able to preempt threats like flash loan attacks. Our Economic Exploit Analysis provides DeFi protocols an extra layer of security. As DeFi evolves, security measures need to evolve with it, and services like this give us an edge against hackers.”
