Poly Network AMA Recap with Forta
The real-time detection network for security & operational monitoring of blockchain activity, Forta(@FortaNetwork), was invited to Poly Network (@PolyNetwork2) AMA, taken place on June 30 in the Poly Network Telegram Community. From the Live AMA with Andy Beal, Ecosystem at Forta, this recap fully grasps the information discussed during the AMA.
INTRODUCTION
Poly Network is a global cross-chain protocol for implementing blockchain interoperability and building Web3.0 infrastructure. Poly Network has integrated almost 30 blockchains, including Ethereum, Polygon, Avalanche, Fantom, BNB Chain, Arbitrum, Optimism, HECO, OKC, Neo, Ontology, Zilliqa, Harmony, Metis, etc. Since its launch, the protocol has enabled cross-chain asset transfers of more than USD 16 billion.
Forta is a real-time detection network for security & operational monitoring of blockchain activity. Forta is like a giant security camera and alarm system for Web 3, watching everything happening on chain and alerting teams when the network finds something suspicious or anomalous. Billions of dollars in Web3 were monitored by Forta.
QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS IN LIVE AMA
Q1 How much money has been lost from hacks?
A: In the first 6 months of 2022, over $1B has been lost from hacks. Last year, that number was a lot higher. These numbers are important because it’s unfortunately what mainstream media likes to highlight when they cover this industry. Bad news tends to be the most sensational, and the frequency and dollar amounts of smart contract exploits have been sensational.
Forta’s mission is empower the industry to monitor for threats in real-time, and give them all the information/intelligence they need to prevent, or at least mitigate the damage from security events….
Q2 What is the value of real-time monitoring? What is Forta?
A: I’ll use an analogy — Forta is like a giant security camera and alarm system for Web 3, watching everything happening on chain and alerting teams when the network finds something suspicious or anomalous.
Real-time monitoring is important because teams and communities need to understand and have visibility into what’s happening with their systems as they operate.
If you’re watching, you can react to things as they happen. This practice is known as runtime monitoring or runtime security in Web 2 and it is very much best practice.
I’ll also add that real-time monitoring is complimentary to a smart contract audit, bug bounty programs, and other security measures. Teams need to do ALL OF THESE THINGS to put themselves in the best position to minimize and detect security events.
Q3 Why is Forta a decentralized network? What will the FORT token be used for?
A: Forta is decentralized for a few reasons:
Web 3 is evolving very fast. It would be an impossible task for a single team to attempt to monitor the full surface area of risk. Instead, creating a flexible, permissionless platform that anyone can contribute to is the most efficient way to keep pace with the innovation happening.
Having a decentralized network of node runners eliminates a single point of failure. Every detection bot on the network is run by multiple scan nodes. If one node goes down, the bot will still be run by the other nodes. This gives teams peace of mind that their monitoring is running 24/7 with no interruptions.
There are a lot of really smart, sophisticated security minds in this ecosystem, and an open source project can leverage that collective knowledge. We want audit firms, CISOs at large projects, and independent security researchs to all be able to contribute to Forta.
Q4 Why did Forta choose Poly Network among others for partnership?
A: Forta was keen to support Poly Network because cross-chain/bridge protocols have a lot of inherent risk.
After Poly’s exploit last year, the team was really focused on improving and investing in security.
Poly has been a great partner to the Forta community, and provided valuable feedback that has improved the platform.
Q5 Any exciting plan for future developments？What shall users expect?
A: The newest development is something called “Threat Detection Starter Kits”. These are bundles of pre-built detection bots that any person or team can subscribe to for basic exploit detection coverage.
This is exciting because most projects don’t do any threat detection in-house today. It’s hard to do, and there haven’t been great tools that make it easy.
The Threat Detection Kits make it fast, simple, and no development required. And they are free!
Here’s more information on the Threat Detection Kits. They are a game-changer!
The AMA with Forta was successfully concluded. We will have more AMAs coming in the following weeks. Please stay tuned!
