Introduction

This course teaches you ethical, professional methods to secure smart contracts. You’ll learn how vulnerabilities emerge, how to detect and verify them safely in controlled environments, and how to remediate issues with secure design and coding practices. The emphasis is on defense, auditing discipline, and responsible disclosure — not exploitation.

Course overview

Starting with blockchain fundamentals and Solidity basics, you’ll explore common classes of vulnerabilities, write secure patterns, and practice safe testing using local testnets and formal audits. You’ll build an auditor’s toolkit, from static analysis and fuzzing to property-based testing, while following ethical guidelines and disclosure workflows aligned with industry standards.

Key learning outcomes

• Secure design: Threat modeling, trust boundaries, and least privilege for smart contracts.
• Solidity safety: Safe patterns for access control, initialization, upgrades, and token logic.
• Vulnerability classes: Reentrancy, integer issues, oracle/manipulation, approval pitfalls, and upgrade risks.
• Auditing workflows: Code reviews, static analysis, fuzzing, invariant checks, and testnet validation.
• Tooling: Foundry/Hardhat tests, Slither, Echidna, Mythril, and formal verification basics.
• Ethics & disclosure: Responsible reporting, coordination, and remediation best practices.
• Documentation: Writing clear reports with reproductions, impact assessment, and fixes.

Hands-on modules

• Module 1: Blockchain & Solidity fundamentals; local testnet setup (Foundry/Hardhat).
• Module 2: Safe contract architecture; proxy/upgrade patterns and initializers.
• Module 3: Vulnerability labs — reentrancy, access control, arithmetic, and approvals (safe reproductions).
• Module 4: Static analysis & linting with Slither; code smells and remediation.
• Module 5: Fuzzing & invariants with Echidna/Foundry; property-based testing.
• Module 6: Oracles, price manipulation, MEV-aware design; defenses and monitoring.
• Module 7: Audit reporting, responsible disclosure, and patch validation.
• Capstone: Full audit of a sample protocol with tests, report, and fixes.

Starter lab environment

• Toolchain: Node.js, Hardhat/Foundry, OpenZeppelin libraries.
• Safety: Private networks only; safe test funds; no mainnet interaction.
• Quality gates: Linters, unit/integration tests, invariant suites, coverage thresholds.

Explore these valuable resources

• Solidity Official Documentation
• OpenZeppelin Contracts & Security Guides
• Ethereum: Smart Contract Security

Explore related courses

• Blockchain Fundamentals
• Solidity Development Essentials
• Web3 Security Foundations
• Secure Coding Principles
• Security Auditing & Reporting

Who should enroll?

Ideal for smart contract developers, security engineers, and auditors seeking practical, ethical skills to prevent vulnerabilities and conduct professional reviews. Beginners gain secure development foundations; practitioners refine auditing depth and reporting quality.

Conclusion

Smart contract security is about protecting users and ecosystems. By learning ethical discovery, rigorous testing, and disciplined remediation, you’ll build and audit contracts that are safer, clearer, and more resilient — the foundation of trustworthy web3.