A look at importance of Security Audit in Blockchain field and DAPS

Blockchain is a secure method of creating a database of transactions such as the distribution of funds. The three main reasons are as follows: Cryptography, decentralization and consensus model. However, that does not mean it does not come with risks. Because of the ability of privacy coins to hide transactions, the blockchain security in these coins, especially DAPS, is even more important than traditional cryptocurrencies.

DAPS Coin recently completed two successful testnets and and was on display at Consensus 2019. 

Read the summary of Round 2 of Testnet here: https://officialdapscoin.com/daps-second-round-of-testnet-completed/

We recently Revealed Development Partnership with the Arcadia Group. DAPS and Arcadia Group have been working together for around 10 months. They managed to build the DAPS chain on time for end of Q2. DAPS coin will be the first privacy coin to implement RingCT, Ring Signatures and Bulletproofs with Masternodes and Staking on a hybrid PoW-PoS-PoA chain. The magic is in PoA, which enables the network to verify that no coins were minted beyond the capped supply. Mainnet is scheduled for Q3 after the Security Audit has been completed.

Why Security Audit?

Blockchain field is fairly new and very sensitive to quality. Some teams (unlike other well-known projects such as Monero, Waves, Nano and NEO), perhaps feeling the pressure to release their product quickly, overlook "Security Audit" to improve quality. On the contrary, we insist on the Audit before Mainnet. For this reason, DAPS leadership has been in consultation with a few cryptography, cryptocurrency and software analysis companies. We cannot disclose who they are, but they come highly recommended.

We want to make sure that the chain, consensus rules and cryptography implementations are not only accurate but also do not have security holes. 

We also want a third party to validate that DAPS Coin does what it says on the tin. This way we can state for a fact that the claims we make are real.

Further to this, we need these sorts of Audits provided by reputable companies for exchange listings on some bigger exchanges. In addition, going to Mainnet without doing the Audit would be like leaving your car unlocked with the keys in the ignition in a very bad neighbourhood. There's no guarantee of what might happen and while it is possible to do, it's not a very good idea.

A general chart for audit process

What does the DAPS Audit include?

1.  the Linux, Windows and Mac wallets and the Masternodes and the core tech.

2. penetration testing, exploits, network speeds and stress testing, exception handling, cryptographic analysis of all transaction handling including Bulletproofs.

3. Verification of the Elliptic Curves, RingCT, Ring Signatures and transcation verification.

4. block generation and verification for PoW, PoS and PoA and also verification of all consensus rules.

what happens if an issue is found during Audit?

It is part of the package. If an issue is found and we fix it, we send just that change back to the Auditors and they re-check it to make sure we have done it right.

We do not keep paying for them to check our fixes, it is all part of the package deal we sign.

When the report issues, they will report it and the end of the Audit as a bundle. So we will get all the issues, suggested fixes, network statistics etc back from them.

We then make the necessary changes and let them have a look at the changes, if all is good then they sign off on the code.

When Audit and Mainnet?

Mainnet is scheduled for Q3 after the Security Audit has been completed. 

For now, we are on code freeze with the Auditors now reviewing just the core files for Auditing to see if we can bring the timeline and cost down with still ensuring a stable and safe chain gets launched. We'll soon push out a blog post outlining the best plan of action, what's involved and expected timelines.

The team can’t release the names of the companies who are quoting due to NDA requirements. We will release the name of the company who did the Audit upon the Audit completion.