Highlights:

  • Defender aids blockchain devs in constructing, deploying, and overseeing smart contracts central to decentralized apps.
  • Defender 2.0 aims to enhance smart contract security across all stages of development, as per its Founder.

OpenZeppelin, a provider of blockchain security solutions, recently announced the release of Defender 2.0, a developer security platform created for mission-critical coding, auditing, deployment, and monitoring of applications based on blockchain.

Smart contracts, essential to decentralized applications, can be created, deployed, and managed by blockchain developers using Defender as an operational platform. An example of this kind of code is smart contracts, which enable streamlined transactions and do away with middlemen by self-executing when specific criteria are met.

Blockchain-based smart contracts that regulate interparty transactions are frequently linked to cryptocurrencies. Malicious parties often target them because of their coding’s potential for flaws and exploits.

Decentralized apps, or dapps, have recently been the target of numerous exploits that have resulted in substantial losses. This is when Defender 2.0 was released. Decentralized finance projects suffered estimated losses of USD 479 million in cryptocurrencies in 2023 due to hacks and exploits, with July recording the largest monthly losses of USD 77 million.

Founder of OpenZeppelin, Demian Brener, said, “Defender 2.0’s ultimate goal is to help developers make their smart contracts as secure as possible at all stages — from development to deployment and production.”

Many modules are built into the new Defender 2.0 version to protect a decentralized blockchain project’s entire lifecycle, from code development to deployment to monitoring. As they push their code to GitHub, developers will receive help from a machine learning model that will scan it for potential vulnerabilities and make suggestions for improvements before they become a problem. Finding and prioritizing critical bugs is made easier by an audit module.

Defender 2.0 automates secure smart contract upgrades and execution during deployment, enabling operations teams to start working right away and avoid pointless delays. For multiparty computation wallet capabilities and to increase security, this module integrates with Safe, formerly Gnosis Safe, a decentralized custody protocol, and the institutional asset custody services of Fireblocks Inc.

Finally, once the smart contracts are deployed through an analytics system detecting anomalies or catastrophic events, monitoring and operations modules will enable teams to react instantly if anything goes wrong with the smart contracts. Users have complete access to their live smart contracts, which analyze their risks and behavior to provide them with the data and time they need in the event of an incident.

Project teams can also use the new Actions module to add custom code to Defender 2.0’s platform, automating workflows for both on-chain and off-chain operations.

Brener said, “By combining so many unique features in one place, Defender 2.0 reimagines how blockchain builders tackle development, deployment, monitoring, and response — offering a seamless, convenient, and universal solution. By incorporating security early on in the development process, builders will be able to ship faster and more safely.”

Defender 2.0 supports over 30 blockchain mainnets and testnets at launch, including Ethereum, Arbitrum, Polygon, Coinbase Inc.’s Base, Optimism, and zSync Era. To protect their smart contract code and decentralized apps, well-known blockchain companies already use Defender, including Mean Finance, the blockchain indexing protocol TheGraph, and zkSync creators Matter Labs.