In our journey of unfolding Linea’s full-spectrum approach to security, we enter the second chapter of our series. The deeper we dive into this topic, one thing becomes clearer: the importance of robust security in the dynamic world of blockchain technology and decentralized finance (DeFi).

Going beyond the reactive measures of threat prevention in web3, Linea has developed a distributed threat prevention strategy that operates in real-time. A cornerstone of this method lies in Linea’s security partnerships, dedicated to continuously monitoring on-chain activities and overall economic risks.

Let’s look at each of the mechanisms that form a part of Linea’s real-time threat monitoring playbook.

Bridge Monitoring

Linea engaged with Hexagate to conduct a detailed attack surface analysis for the Linea canonical bridges and specific smart contracts. This involved mapping possible threat vectors on the Linea architecture including the token bridge smart contracts and zkEVM contracts on Ethereum.

Once this was done, sophisticated AI-based Bridge monitoring was put in place, including invariance detection, which ensures bridged assets are fully protected.

On-Chain Monitoring

Linea has partnered with leading security organizations such as Hexagate, Hypernative, and Cyvers for round-the-clock on-chain monitoring. Using a sophisticated set of tools and practices, these partners play an essential role in detecting any unusual operations or potential threats to the network.

This is one way that on-chain monitoring works: Our security partners scan the entirety of the smart contracts deployed on Linea and, using advanced AI/ML techniques, assess whether any of those pose a threat such as a smart contract vulnerability, a governance threat, or an imbalance in account statements to these Linea smart contracts. If they discover a potential risk, they alert the network, which can then pause those transactions to avoid a loss.

Through this process, Linea significantly reduces the possibility of ecosystem threats such as reentrancy attacks, front-running attacks, and approval vulnerabilities. By making the network more resilient and secure, these partnerships give Linea an unmatched edge against potential threats. The Linea team is actively encouraging the broader Linea ecosystem to adopt similar practices to protect their protocols, bridges, liquidity pools and TVL.

On-Chain Hardening

The second component of Linea’s real-time threat monitoring strategy for security is on-chain hardening, which is a process of maintaining the integrity of the smart contracts on a blockchain. This can be done through strategies such as implementing function modifiers, which can identify and revert suspicious transactions; and using artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML).

A compelling example of this approach is demonstrated by our partner, SphereX. The main focus of this protocol lies in using AI/ML to learn ‘good’ transaction behaviors and therefore identify and prevent ‘bad’, or unusual, transactions. The moment SphereX identifies something unusual, it raises an alert, which then leads to a reversal of that transaction. And since it only targets malicious transactions, the overall protocol activities do not need to be paused to ensure the security of other users. This offers an uninterrupted user experience and helps maintain the user’s trust in the overall health of the protocol.

Economic Risk Monitoring

In the context of DeFi, security threats extend beyond smart contracts. These economies are intricately intertwined. A failure of one platform can cause ripple effects across the network, resulting in potential catastrophes. With the understanding of such risks, Linea has partnered with Gauntlet to create an economic risk monitoring dashboard.

Gauntlet’s Linea dashboard provides a comprehensive view of the entire Linea ecosystem, from liquidation risks to lending markets and high-level market summary. This partnership means that dapps and users get an insight into the health of the Linea network, while Linea can tackle ecosystem risks head-on. It ensures the larger DeFi ecosystem is safeguarded from financial threats. Linea is the only zk-rollup that provides this kind of comprehensive ecosystem risk monitoring.

How Does this Help Dapps Thrive?

As the DeFi landscape matures, the need for innovative and effective security measures becomes more pressing than ever. Linea, through its strategic partnerships, comprehensive on-chain monitoring, on-chain hardening, and economic risk monitoring stands at the forefront of this security revolution. We offer our users a safe environment, while being vigilant to both present and future risks, taking another step on our mission of providing the safest place to interact with web3.

Explore Linea’s Full-Spectrum Security

Read the first part in this three-part series on Linea’s full-spectrum approach to security.