Company experts reviewed smart contract code to assure security for investors prior to NOBOBOX Initial Token Sale
Woburn, MA – February 25, 2019 – Building on its expertise and experience in cybersecurity research on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, Kaspersky Lab has conducted its first commercial smart contract security assessment. The assessment was requested by NOBOBOX, a Liechtenstein-based company behind a new technology that allows consumers to shop with cryptocurrency.
An Initial Token Sale (ITS) – also known as an Initial Coin Offering (ICO) – remains a popular way for cryptocurrency startups to raise funds. In 2018, more than 1,200 ICOs were launched, raising $7.8 billion in funds. However, this relatively new market still lacks legal regulations, leaving investors on their own when choosing a trustworthy ITS. Additionally, if smart contracts provided to ITS investors are poorly written, they may have security issues which could put investors’ money at risk. Therefore, entrepreneurs using this method of fundraising are looking for ways to increase its reliability.
On February 10, NOBOBOX started selling its coin, dubbed NOBOTOKEN, through an ITS. Before launching the campaign, NOBOBOX needed to ensure that the smart contract it had written for investors was secure and corresponded with the assurances it stated in its whitepaper detailing the ITS process. The company enlisted Kaspersky Lab to conduct an assessment of the smart contract code.
During the assessment, Kaspersky Lab experts reviewed the smart contract for a variety of specific vulnerabilities that could affect its security, including Reentrancy,Timestamp Dependence and Transaction-Ordering Dependence. The security analysis of the code showed that the smart contract was well-crafted and followed common security best practices.
The research team also inspected a whitepaper from NOBOBOX describing the rules of the ITS, to ensure that it wasn’t at odds with the functionality of the smart contract. The review of the whitepaper revealed several low-critical discrepancies within the code. Kaspersky Lab provided NOBOBOX with a detailed assessment report, offering key recommendations for the company before launching the ITS, to ensure that its smart contract did not include any undocumented functions that may affect investors.
“With Kaspersky Lab, we have chosen a company that attaches great importance to high security standards,” said Danny Krauspenhaar, CEO of NOBOBOX. “We are convinced that this will create an equally good basis of trust for our investors. NOBOBOX itself took the first steps in this direction, which is why we founded a Liechtenstein stock corporation and developed a smart contract according to the ERC20 standard especially for the Initial Token Sale. But that's not all: we had the Smart Contract checked by external experts and decided on the best in terms of security. I am grateful for the successful cooperation and can only recommend Kaspersky Lab to others. In addition, I think that we have laid the foundation for a successful ITS with the successful external audit.”
“At Kaspersky Lab, we’ve been accumulating experience in the cryptocurrency protection field for several years already, including the delivery of a cybersecurity assessment for Merkeleon,” said Vitaly Mzokov, head of verification, Growth Center at Kaspersky Lab. “We’re excited to now complete our first commercial smart contract audit for NOBOBOX. Investors find it risky to buy tokens if they cannot trust the company that initiated an ITS, particularly if it cannot provide the appropriate level of cybersecurity and consistency in their business logic. By requesting this assessment, NOBOBOX is demonstrating that it is keen to prove itself as a fair player on the market.”
NOBOOX provides a business plug-in called PLUG'N'PAY and a NOBOCARD solution, which is a debit card and cryptocurrency.
About Kaspersky Lab
Kaspersky Lab is a global cybersecurity company, which has been operating in the market for over 21 years. Kaspersky Lab’s deep threat intelligence and security expertise is constantly transforming into next generation security solutions and services to protect businesses, critical infrastructure, governments and consumers around the globe. The company’s comprehensive security portfolio includes leading endpoint protection and a number of specialized security solutions and services to fight sophisticated and evolving digital threats. Over 400 million users are protected by Kaspersky Lab technologies and we help 270,000 corporate clients protect what matters most to them. Learn more at www.kaspersky.com.
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