Overview
This lecture provides a beginner-friendly roadmap and resources for starting out in smart contract auditing and web3 security, focusing on audit contests, practical learning, and strategies for making progress in the space.
Background & Motivation
- Web3 security and bug bounties offer significant financial and learning opportunities for newcomers.
- Traditional cybersecurity skills (e.g., penetration testing) are a helpful foundation.
- Early setbacks and a "try harder" mentality are common and essential for success.
- Success stories show rapid advancement is possible in this field.
Bug Bounty Platforms & Audit Contests
- Code Arena and Immunefi are major web3 bug bounty platforms with lucrative rewards.
- Code Arena runs audit contests, not classic bug bounties: fixed prize pools divided among participants based on findings.
- Lower competition and fresh codebases make Code Arena beginner-friendly; payout is possible even for duplicate findings.
- All reports on Code Arena are public, enabling a valuable feedback loop and learning from others.
Essential Learning Resources & Path
- Primary learning areas: Solidity programming, DeFi basics, and traditional finance concepts.
- Recommended Solidity CTFS: Ethernaut (beginner friendly), Capture the Ether, Damn Vulnerable DeFi (hardest).
- Patrick Collins’ Solidity tutorials on FreeCodeCamp (both Python and JavaScript/Hardhat versions) are excellent for practical learning.
- TeachYourselfCrypto.com covers DeFi concepts like tokens, proxies, MasterChef, Compound, and Uniswap v2.
- For MasterChef and staking, watch Smart Contract Programmer's YouTube explanation.
- Khan Academy’s finance courses are suggested for traditional finance background as needed.
- Use tutorials and courses as references rather than completing them end-to-end.
Practical Strategies for Progress
- Build knowledge by reading public audit reports and practicing on audit contests.
- Start by submitting QA and gas optimization reports; manual code reading helps recognize patterns.
- Gradually progress to finding medium and high severity vulnerabilities by reviewing past findings and categorizing them.
- Review duplicate and unique findings to understand vulnerability patterns and explanations.
Community & Motivation
- Learning from community members and experienced auditors accelerates progress.
- Rapid advancement in rankings is achievable, as shown by newcomers successfully earning significant rewards in months.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Smart Contract — A self-executing contract with code and data on the blockchain.
- Bug Bounty — A program offering financial rewards for finding security vulnerabilities.
- Audit Contest — A time-limited event where participants review code and share in a prize pool based on findings.
- CTF (Capture the Flag) — Security challenges designed to teach exploitation and defense techniques.
- DeFi (Decentralized Finance) — Blockchain-based financial systems without traditional intermediaries.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Complete Solidity CTFs (especially Ethernaut and Damn Vulnerable DeFi).
- Go through Patrick Collins' Solidity tutorial as needed.
- Study DeFi basics at TeachYourselfCrypto.com and watch relevant YouTube videos.
- Reference Khan Academy for finance concepts when necessary.
- Read Code Arena and Securium audit reports, starting with low-risk findings.
- Participate in audit contests and incrementally increase report complexity.
- Categorize findings to recognize common patterns in vulnerabilities.