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Written by
Cyfrin Team
Published on
July 1, 2024

Introducing the Cyfrin CodeHawks Update

A completely redesigned competitive smart contract security audit platform with new features and functionality, improved processes, and industry-leading usability.

Table of Contents

We’ve spent the last year together uncovering vulnerabilities, squashing bugs, debating findings, protecting some of the world’s largest protocols, and having fun growing our amazing community.

Behind the scenes, the Cyfrin CodeHawks team has also been gathering feedback to better understand the features you (security researchers and protocols) want, how you use the platform, and where enhancements should be made: processes (submissions, judging, appeals), usability, talent management, integrations, and more.

Today, CodeHawks is taking the next step in its journey and launching the next generation competitive audit platform.

Introducing: CodeHawks v2.

Key Takeaways

  • A new user dashboard 
  • Improved readability 
  • More intuitive usability 
  • Unified submission & management experience 
  • Updates to the appeals and community judging processes 
  • New look & feel 
  • Reward payments now made in USDC on ZKsync Chain 
  • CodeHawks Security Audit Summer and Inaugural $200,000 Chainlink CCIP Competitive Audit

What’s new in the updated CodeHawks platform?

Already one of the most intuitive, easiest-to-use competitive audit platforms, Codehawks v2 represents a step change in usability with a complete platform refactor, a new suite of features, and better tools for protocols and auditors.

The process for protocols to list and manage competitions is faster, easier, and more comprehensive. The auditor experience is leveled up with a new dashboard and cleaner look. New rules have been introduced to improve the appeals process and community judging, making them more streamlined and fair.

Image of the new streamlined CodeHawks dashboard.

What does it mean for auditors?

For security auditors, Cyfrin CodeHawks is easier to use and effortless to navigate, delivering streamlined management for everything you do. All competition and submission-related activities are unified on a single screen.

New look and feel and streamlined competition pages 

Finding the right competition for your skills and interests is now much easier. Filter across competitions and get context quicker through the now easier-to-read breakdown of scope, compatibilities, frameworks, and, most importantly, prize pool and rewards.

Reducing PvP in Appeals 

We heard you. 

All competition participants who wish to submit an appeal must meet a series of eligibility criteria. Long story short, if the participant is not the owner of a submission, before appealing a judgment, they must:

  1. Have submitted at least one valid submission in a previous competition
  2. Earned an aggregate reward amount of no less than USD 200 equivalent from one or more previous competitions
  3. Have a valid submissions to total submissions ratio greater than or equal to 0.2. For example, at least two in every ten submissions sent to CodeHawks competitions have been judged as valid.

We continue to listen to feedback; things might change as thresholds are adjusted to build a better experience.

Payments are now on ZKsync

Going forward, all reward payments for competitive audits and community judging will be made in USDC on the ZKsync chain. Auditors and community judges will need a ZKsync-enabled wallet added to their profile to receive their awards.

Judge competitions and get rewarded

Community judging was also upgraded. The experience has a new, more informative dashboard with improved usability.

Judging competitions is now subject to the same eligibility criteria as submitting appeals. The five most accurate community judges earn monetary rewards, where “accuracy” is determined by how closely a participant’s determinations match those of the lead judge.

Image illustrating benefits for protocols with the new CodeHawks design.

What does it mean for protocols? 

For protocols and organizations, CodeHawks competitions now have faster turnaround times, lower fees, and more effective audits.

Quicker turnaround times

We’ve improved the platform and internal processes to give you better and quicker results. Coupled with a proprietary judging and triage system that accelerates auditing at scale, CodeHawk now delivers a meaningfully higher ROI than any other solution

And, with a large, growing community of the world’s best security researchers examining your codebase and uncovering critical vulnerabilities, CodeHawks also delivers greater precision and accuracy.

Reach the right security talent when you need them.

CodeHawks provides access to some of the best security researchers in the industry, allowing protocols to select the expertise they need from a curated pool of top-tier professionals.

In CodeHawks v2, the platform is now integrated across our entire ecosystem of platforms and products. In practice, this means every competition and every protocol will be more visible and generate more awareness throughout our community of thousands of security researchers and engineers.

No less significant are an improved suggestion system, lower fees, and better competition design to make it easier for protocols and organizations to reach the right security talent.

Lower fees than any other competitive audit platforms

True to the Cyfrin ethos, we have reduced platform fees. We believe this offers smaller protocols, startups and organizations more opportunities to enhance their security and the ecosystem as a whole, while providing higher rewards for auditors and judges participating in their competitions.

CodeHawks Security Audit Summer

Kicking things off on CodeHawks v2, an initiative attracting security auditors from all around the world: the CodeHawks Security Audit Summer. A month of security competitions, with new ones announced every week.

Grand opener, is a massive $200,000 competitive audit of the Chainlink’s Cross-Chain Interoperability Protocol (CCIP).

CCIP enables cross-chain token transfers, messaging, RWAs; connects public and private blockchains; and scales dapps across ecosystems.

The contest begins July 2, 2024 and concludes July 17, 2024 when findings must be submitted.

This is a tremendous opportunity to showcase your security auditing skills and dive into the code of one of the most important projects in the entire industry.
Learn more on the Chainlink CCIP competition page.

Sign up on CodeHawks

That’s a lot—a truly massive shift in how the CodeHawks platform functions. But, in short, it is now simply better. And we think you’ll agree.

Learn more on CodeHawks or sign up now to find out: codehawks.cyfrin.io

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