Strategies for Success in Audit Contests and Bug Bounty Hunting

In this article, we’ll share insights on playing to your strengths, navigating competition, and selecting protocols wisely. We will talk about bug bounty tactics, tips on time management and the importance of focused expertise.

We also had a chance to discuss the most effective strategies that worked for the auditor, who is in Top 3 on Code4rena leaderboard, MiloTruck:

In audit contests, it’s important to pick protocols that match your skills. Choose the ones that you’re good at. It’s better to focus on protocols with less complicated code and more emphasis on business logic.

Focused Expertise

A big chunk of success lies in selecting a focused expertise and narrowing down on a specific niche, such as the C4 audit contest. This way, you can ensure continuous improvement while achieving exceptional results over time.

Achieving results takes time & practice. Practice is also especially important in choosing your specialization and understanding where your true strengths lie, which you can certainly do by completing various real-life-scenario-based exercises. This will help you build and develop your strengths, and possibly even discover new ones to broaden your opportunities in audit contests and bug bounty hunting.

Assessing Competition and Protocol Complexity

It is also very useful to evaluate the level of competition in a particular contest. Opting for contests with lower participation increases the potential for higher payouts.

One of the ways to assess the level of competition is to navigate to Code4rena and Sherlock Discord, go to the contest channel and see how active it is.

Sherlock’s Discord Community: Past Contests Folder

Additionally, there is a strategy for assessing the complexity of protocols. Protocols with complex and unique features usually have fewer people competing, giving you a competitive advantage.

To succeed in bug bounties, it’s important to keep an eye on new protocols and understand them quickly. Focusing on what interests you helps maintain enthusiasm in the bug hunting process.

Recent discovery: a new bot, BountyLensBot, has been introduced to monitor all the projects on Immunefi. When a project is added, you receive a notification via Telegram.

Additionally, if there are modifications to a project’s scope or new code is pushed to GitHub, the bot promptly sends a Telegram notification. This allows auditors to stay updated and revisit the codebase swiftly to identify any new potential vulnerabilities. Speed is key here, as bug bounty payouts work on a first-come-first-serve basis.

Time Management and Platform Selection

Effective time management is a crucial component in bug bounty hunting strategies. A strategy involves utilizing platforms like Immunefi, which provides protection in potential payment disputes. This strategic choice ensures efficient time utilization and safeguards participants from potential conflicts.

Remember you are not limited to a specific platform. You can also try to find bugs in protocols that are not listed on Immunefi, but have high TVL (Total Value Locked). A strong advantage with such an approach is, obviously, there is way less competition. Disadvantage: the protocol might not pay for the bug disclosure. A good strategy would be to go to DefiLlama and search protocols by category (e.g AMMs / Lending Protocols, etc.) and sort by TVL.

Aligning personal strengths with specific protocols is key. Choosing protocols that match your expertise gives you a competitive advantage.Opt for projects with less complicated code.Evaluate protocol security by looking at past audits for persistent high-severity issues.Exploring bug bounties beyond platforms such as Immunefi offers less competitive opportunities.