Ethereum's security team is initiating a four-week hackathon to test the blockchain's security. The event is planned for every future hard fork, so we will surely see many of those.
The hackathon, dubbed "Attackathon", offers a $2 million reward pool. It aims to be the largest crowdsourced security audit of Ethereum's codebase.
Security researchers will search for vulnerabilities in the protocol's code. The Ethereum Protocol Security (EPS) research team outlined the event in a July 8 blog post.
"They will follow specific rules set for the competition, and only impactful and rule-compliant reports will be rewarded," the team stated.
The event will begin with a technical walkthrough of the blockchain's code. This ensures participants are prepared to identify potential vulnerabilities.
Bug bounty platform Immunefi will host the event. They will compile a report detailing discovered vulnerabilities post-event.
The EPS team has contributed $500,000 to the prize pool, and they are seeking sponsors to raise an additional $1.5 million by August 1. That is quite a significant amount of money for such an event.
Similar hackathons are planned "at every hard fork covering changes to the codebase," according to the team.
Ethereum's next "Pectra" hard fork is expected in late 2024 or early 2025. It combines the "Prague" and "Electra" upgrades.
Planned updates include a "social recovery" feature. This could eliminate the need for users to remember lengthy private wallet keys.
Hackathons are common in the tech world. Crypto projects often offer bug bounties to encourage ethical hacking.
Immunefi's website shows most bounties range from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars. The largest, offered by LayerZero, reaches $15 million.