Quanstamp’s new service to help curb the threats of flash loan attacks

Key takeaways

• Blockchain security platform Quantstamp seeks to curb the threats of flash loan attacks with its new service. 

• The service could help reduce the number of protocols that get hacked.

Quanstamp to launch a new service

Blockchain security platform Quantstamp has revealed that it wants to reduce the threats of flash loan attacks with its service service. 

The team told CoinDesk that the service is designed to catch exploits before they go off. The service, called the Economic Exploit Analysis, will detect common attack pathways used by hackers via automated tooling before protocols get hacked.

The Economic Exploit Analysis has already been released in partnership with researchers from the University of Toronto.

DeFi protocols have lost an estimated $207 million worth of tokens due to flash loan attacks during the first half of the year. 

Flash loan attacks are when someone exploits a smart contract in order to get a quick loan. This can be done by taking advantage of a vulnerability in the code, or by convincing the contract’s owner to give them a loan.

Flash loan attacks can be used to drain the entire total value locked (TVL) of a DeFi protocol, making it quite problematic for projects in the crypto space. 

Martin Derka, head of new initiatives at Quantstamp stated that;

“DeFi has the potential to change the global financial infrastructure for the better, but its success requires preempting threats like flash loan attacks. We developed this tool to provide DeFi protocols an extra layer of security on top of audits. As DeFi evolves, security measures need to evolve with it. Services like Economic Exploit Analysis give us an edge against hackers.”

The team revealed that its service is available to both deployed and undeployed protocols.