Blockchain Security: Front-running Protection Methods

Study Notes

Front-running is when a malicious actor intercepts and alters a transaction before it is confirmed on the blockchain.
Protection methods:
- Niczak's Pattern: Use a commit-reveal scheme to hide the transaction's contents until it's confirmed.
- Hashed Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs): Use a hash-locked mechanism to prevent front-running.
- Flash Loans: Use flash loans to execute a sequence of transactions atomically, making front-running harder.

Unsecured function calls can allow unauthorized access to sensitive data or control.
Prevention methods:
- Access modifiers: Use private, internal, or external keywords to restrict access to functions.
- Function naming conventions: Use descriptive names and follow the camelCase convention to indicate function accessibility.
- Input validation: Validate function inputs to prevent unauthorized access.

Reentrancy attacks occur when a contract calls another contract, which then calls the first contract back, causing an infinite loop.
Prevention methods:
- Reentrancy detection: Use tools like Etherscan or Oraclize to detect reentrancy vulnerabilities.
- Use the Checks-Effects-Interactions pattern: Separate functions into checks, effects, and interactions to prevent reentrancy.
- Avoid using low-level calls: Use high-level libraries like OpenZeppelin's ReentrancyGuard to prevent reentrancy.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC): Assign roles to users and restrict access to functions based on those roles.
Access Control Lists (ACLs): Implement ACLs to restrict access to specific functions or data.
** Principle of Least Privilege**: Grant users and contracts the minimum privileges necessary to perform their tasks.

Encryption: Use encryption libraries like OpenZeppelin's ERC721 to protect sensitive data.
Data masking: Use data masking to conceal sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or passwords.
Data segregation: Separate sensitive data into smaller, isolated storage to reduce the attack surface.

Front-running occurs when a malicious actor alters a transaction before it's confirmed on the blockchain.
Niczak's Pattern protects against front-running by using a commit-reveal scheme to hide transaction contents until confirmation.
Hashed Time-Locked Contracts (HTLCs) prevent front-running by using a hash-locked mechanism.
Flash Loans make front-running harder by executing a sequence of transactions atomically.

Unsecured function calls can allow unauthorized access to sensitive data or control.
Access modifiers (private, internal, or external) restrict access to functions.
Function naming conventions (e.g., camelCase) indicate function accessibility.
Input validation prevents unauthorized access to functions.

Reentrancy attacks occur when a contract calls another contract, causing an infinite loop.
Reentrancy detection tools (e.g., Etherscan or Oraclize) identify reentrancy vulnerabilities.
The Checks-Effects-Interactions pattern separates functions to prevent reentrancy.
Avoiding low-level calls (e.g., using OpenZeppelin's ReentrancyGuard) prevents reentrancy.

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) assigns roles to users and restricts access to functions.
Access Control Lists (ACLs) restrict access to specific functions or data.
The Principle of Least Privilege grants users and contracts the minimum necessary privileges.

Encryption (e.g., OpenZeppelin's ERC721) protects sensitive data.
Data masking conceals sensitive data, such as credit card numbers or passwords.
Data segregation separates sensitive data into smaller, isolated storage to reduce the attack surface.