Layers of security in place to make THORChain resilient to attacks and network uncertainty
Mimir Setting: Halt{Chain}ChainEffect: Pauses all observations on that chain. Nodes will not be synced to the tip.Use cases: Introducing a new chain, major chain-specific issue.
Telegram monitoring bot is also an excellent tool to monitor unusual activity on the THORChain network including node mimir votes, network pauses, large liquidity deposits, large swaps, and other critical network information. The Telegram bot can be accessed here.
Maximum Number of Nodes To Churn Out for Low Version*
This Mimir parameter titled “MAXNODETOCHURNOUTFORLOWVERSION” allows changes to the number of nodes that can be churned out for not running the latest version of THORNode. Previously, this limit was globally set to “1” which could leave the network in a vulnerable state if multiple nodes were not updating. If there were a critical update and more than one node did not update to the most recent version, it would take multiple churns to remove nodes that have not yet updated. Relevant PR.
*Currently not yet enabled, being voted on by Node Operators via Node Mimir voting.
Cloud Provider Distribution Enforcement*
This new network parameter sets the maximum percentage of nodes that can be hosted on one cloud provider service. Node infrastructure is costly and advanced sysadmin skills are required to host a bare metal node. Therefore, many node operators choose to run their nodes on cloud provider software such as AWS, Azure, DigitalOcean, or Google Cloud Services. This presents a major risk due to insufficient decentralization.
For example, with a CloudProviderLimit of 3333, no more than 33.3% of nodes can be hosted on the same cloud provider. This ensures that even in the event of complete failure of a cloud provider, THORChain will continue to produce blocks and achieve consensus. Relevant PR.
*Currently not yet enabled, being voted on by Node Operators via Node Mimir voting.
The THORChain network has matured significantly since the launch of Chaosnet and added many layers of security. While there can never be a guarantee regarding security, the measures outlined in this article should give confidence to users that the impact of any attack will be greatly reduced and hackers are more incentives to disclose bugs than attack the network.
While the specifics of the security measures taken by the network may change, the focus on security remains the highest priority of the network and its participants.
Today, THORChain is more impervious to attack, and is able to react quickly to save funds, THORChain is ready for the next phase of growth.
To keep up to date with the project, please monitor community channels, particularly Telegram, Discord and Twitter:
