Protocol Security
Protocol-level security engineering — consensus, bridges, oracles, upgrades and economic security.
Identity
SSOMFAPasskeysAccess control
RBACLeast privilegeJust-in-timeSecrets
VaultRotationNo secrets in codeEncryption
TLS in transitEncrypted at restMonitoring
Audit logAlertsThreat detection
Audit events
login.mfa.success
user · passkey
role.granted
approved by 2nd admin
secret.rotated
db-credentials
anomaly.flagged
unusual geo → ticket
Division
Service area
Web3 Security Engineering
Engagement
Project · Team · Managed
Overview
Protocol security covers risks beyond individual contracts: consensus and sequencer failures, bridge and messaging trust, oracle dependencies, upgrade and governance paths and economic security under adversarial conditions. We review and harden protocols across these dimensions and design monitoring and response mechanisms.
Common use cases
- L2 and appchain securitySequencer, bridge and upgrade review.
- DeFi protocol securityEconomic and oracle risk review.
- Governance securityProtection against governance attacks.
- Interoperability securityCross-chain risk assessment.
Quick answers
Protocol Security at a glance
The essentials in brief. Every project is scoped individually — ask us for specifics.
- What is protocol security?
- Protocol-level security engineering — consensus, bridges, oracles, upgrades and economic security.
- Who is it for?
- Typically Web3 startups, fintechs adding digital assets, and institutions exploring tokenization, stablecoins or on-chain settlement.
- What does Shivacha provide?
- Architecture review
- Oracle review
- Upgrade review
- Economic security
- Bridge review
- Monitoring design
- Which technologies are used?
- Solidity, Foundry, OpenZeppelin, MPC Cryptography, OWASP, Prometheus — chosen to fit your stack and constraints.
- How does the process work?
- Scope → Threat modelling → Review & testing → Remediation → Operate.
- What affects the cost?
- Contract complexity and number of chains
- Custody and wallet model
- Independent audit scope
- Indexing, analytics and back-office tooling
- Compliance integrations (KYC, AML, Travel Rule)
- Upgradeability and governance requirements
- How long does it take?
- A focused contract system or dApp MVP typically takes 8–14 weeks plus independent audit time; institutional platforms usually take 4–9 months.
- How do I get started?
- Share a short brief in the form below, book a 30-minute call or message us on WhatsApp. A senior engineer replies within one business day; NDA on request.
Capabilities
What we deliver
Architecture review
Protocol-level risk analysis.
Oracle review
Manipulation resistance and fallbacks.
Upgrade review
Timelocks and governance controls.
Economic security
Attack cost analysis.
Bridge review
Trust assumptions and limits.
Monitoring design
Protocol-level alerts.
Architecture
Engineered right from day one
The layers we typically design for Web3 security engineering, adapted to your stack and partners.
- Independent audits still matterOur work prepares for, and complements, third-party audits.
- Beyond the contractMany losses come from keys, frontends and operations, not code.
- Economic securityOracle manipulation and incentive attacks modelled explicitly.
- Response readinessPausing, upgrades and communication planned before incidents.
Delivery
How an engagement runs
- 1
Scope
Assets at risk, components and adversaries.
- 2
Threat modelling
Attack trees across contracts, keys, infrastructure and economics.
- 3
Review & testing
Code review, fuzzing, invariant testing and infrastructure checks.
- 4
Remediation
Prioritised findings and fixes, re-tested.
- 5
Operate
Monitoring, alerting and incident runbooks.
Security
Security built into delivery
Controls we apply by default on this kind of work — not a separate phase at the end.
Specification first
Roles, invariants and threat model documented before code.
Adversarial testing
Fuzz, invariant and fork tests plus static analysis on every change.
Key management
Admin keys in multisig or MPC with timelocks on sensitive actions.
Independent audit
Code prepared for — and we recommend — an external audit before mainnet value.
Technology
Tools we use for this
Related services
Often combined with
Web3 Security Engineering
Holistic Web3 security — contracts, keys, infrastructure, frontends and operations — engineered and tested.
Learn moreWeb3 Threat Modeling
Structured threat modelling for Web3 systems — assets, adversaries, attack paths and prioritised mitigations.
Learn moreWallet Security
Security engineering for wallets — key storage, signing flows, phishing defences, recovery and app hardening.
Learn moreDedicated team
Smart Contract Team
Audit-ready smart contract engineers for tokens, DeFi and tokenization.
Work & insights
Related thinking
Policy-controlled institutional digital asset operations
A reference design for institutions that need every digital asset transaction initiated, approved and signed under explicit policy.
Learn moreTokenized fund units with on-chain eligibility
How we structure a fund tokenization platform where only eligible investors can hold or receive units.
Learn moreMost breaches start with identity: where to focus security effort first
Before advanced tooling, get identity right: phishing-resistant MFA, least privilege, secrets out of code and logs you can actually search.
Learn moreFAQ
Frequently asked questions
How is protocol security different from contract security?
Contract security focuses on code correctness; protocol security covers system-level design, dependencies, governance and economics.
Do you review live protocols?
Yes, including recommendations constrained by what can be changed safely.
Is this the same as a smart contract audit?
No. We provide security engineering, internal review and audit preparation. For production contracts holding meaningful value, independent audits by specialist firms remain essential.
Do you monitor deployed contracts?
Yes. We set up on-chain monitoring and alerting for anomalous transactions, privileged function calls and parameter changes.
Next step
Discuss Your Blockchain Project.
Tell us about your protocol security requirements — goals, timeline and constraints. We will reply with questions, an approach and next steps.
- Senior engineer reads every enquiry
- Reply within one business day
- NDA on request
Your details are used only to reply to this enquiry.