Blockchain 101: How not to launch a Main-net by EOS - critical bug discovered!
In a big concern for the EOS project, the Chinese Internet security giant 360 has found "a series of epic vulnerabilities" in the platform.
There should be a few red faces amongst the lead devs, as some of the bugs allow arbitrary code to be executed remotely on EOS nodes and even take full control of the nodes. :0
According to their Weibo, 360 reported the bugs to the EOS team. "The person in charge of the EOS network said that the EOS network will not be officially launched until these issues are fixed." Apparently, this is now done, so kudos to the EOS devs for responding fast, and it doesn't appear it will affect main-net release date.
As Vitalik Buterin has made clear, blockchain projects face a trilemma, in that you cannot achieve scalability, decentralization and security at the same time. Something has to give, and one of the big criticisms of the EOS project is that they have sacrificed security (...and also decentralization, although this debate is a bit more complex and would require another post to fully dig into!)
I have invested a bit in the EOS project, as I applaud its ambition and marketing, but there was always going to be a risk of something like this happening. Its good the Chinese firm was wearing their white hats and identified the problem, and in the current bear market it might not even have that big of an impact on price. However, to call EOS an Ethereum killer is very premature, as they have yet to prove themselves and have not started in the best way!
While Ethereum is not perfect, it has thousands of the smartest developers aroudn the world trying to solve problems of scalability, security and decentralization. There can be no argument that the dev community will be the driving force behind blockchain Dapp protocols, and unless EOS can recruit serious talent quickly, I don't see it competing in the near to mid-term.
What do you think about this news? Is EOS going to be the silver-bullet blockchain that does everything better, or rather over-hyped and unproven?
Whatever happens, exciting times ahead in the next few months to see where EOS goes, and whether it can compete with Ethereum!
Block.one did hackathon to find bugs - bugs found , bugs fixed - Excellent work. Normal procedure.