Blockchain And Smart Contract Security (SEC554)

SEC554 will teach you all topics relevant to securing, hacking, and using blockchain and smart contract technology. The course takes a detailed look at the technology that underpins multiple implementations of blockchain, the cryptography and transactions behind them, the various smart contract languages like Solidity and Rust, and the protocols built with them like NFTs, DeFi, and Web3.

The labs in the course provide the hands-on training and tools needed to deploy, audit, scan, and exploit blockchain and smart contract assets, as well as actively learn how to defend them and identify threats and threat actors using them for malicious purposes.

In 2008, an anonymous author using the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, published a white paper outlining a public transaction ledger for a decentralized peer-to-peer payment system entitled Bitcoin:

A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System, which is regarded as the "birth" of blockchain. Since then, the use of blockchain has evolved beyond its original implementation as a cryptocurrency.

It has gained momentum in recent years, being adopted by some of the largest organizations in the world, including IBM, Amazon, PayPal, Mastercard, and many others.

However, due to the fast moving innovation and adoption of blockchain, and the unfamiliar concepts compared to more understood and traditional technologies, its use is still hindered by speculation, confusion, uncertainty, and risk.

In SEC554: Blockchain and Smart Contract Security, you will become familiar with essential topics of blockchain and smart contract technology, including its history, design principles, architecture, business use cases, regulatory environment, and technical specifications.

The course takes a detailed look at the mechanics behind the cryptography and the transactions that make blockchain work. It provides exercises that will teach you how to use tools to deploy, audit, scan, and exploit blockchain and smart contract assets.

Hands-on labs and exercises will enable you to deploy, audit, scan, and exploit various blockchain implementations, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, Cosmos, Near and others, as well as smart contract languages like Solidity and Rust, along with protocols, such as NFTs, DeFi, and Web3.

You Will Be Able To:

• Compile and deploy smart contracts
• Exploit vulnerable smart contracts, nodes, and private keys
• Run automated security scans on smart contracts
• Use the latest blockchain tools for development, security, auditing, and exploiting
• Trace and discover blockchain transaction information
• Set up and protect a cryptocurrency wallet
• Crack partially exposed mnemonics keys
• Send transactions to blockchain
• Set up a local Ethereum blockchain for testing
• Join a cryptocurrency mining pool, or create your own mining node
• Run static analysis on EVM bytecode
• Interact with cryptocurrency on main and test networks
• Investigate, install, and prevent crypto-jacking malware
• Protect and defend against privacy attacks on blockchain