Forta is the largest network of security intel in Web3. The decentralized Forta Network leverages machine learning and a community of security researchers to detect exploits, scams and other threats.
The Forta Foundation periodically announces new users and partners through this blog and the Forta socials, but has never published a comprehensive view of the ecosystem around the Forta Network, until now. Many teams are building on or enabling the Forta Network, while many more simply consume the threat intelligence it produces. All in, over 100 teams are providers to or consumers of Forta, and that number is growing every week (and this figure doesn’t even include the thousands of independent node operators and bot developers that participate in the network).
The network and ecosystem aspect of Forta is what distinguishes it from every other web3 security project. You really can think of Forta as an index of the security sector, because the network touches every corner of the market.
This vibrant, multi-faceted ecosystem is the goal for any decentralized project. It takes different complementary pieces coming together for things to work sustainably. Every participant is both providing something to the network and receiving something from the network. The below ecosystem graphic highlights the various categories of ecosystem participants, and some of the most prominent teams in each.
DeFi
Forta has provided monitoring infrastructure and exploit-related threat intelligence to DeFi teams since the network launched, and is helping secure $43B in TVL across seven EVM chains. DeFi remains Forta’s largest ecosystem vertical, with most of those teams are subscribed to the Attack Detector, an Forta API providing early-warning alerts about exploits. The Attack Detector has detected over $300M in DeFi hacks early over the last 18 months. Partnerships with OpenZeppelin Defender and Hacken Extractor also provide a healthy pipeline of new Attack Detector subscribers.
Security & Compliance Tools
This is the fastest-growing vertical in the Forta ecosystem, in part because the web3 security vertical grew so much during the last bear market. What’s remarkable about this vertical is it didn’t even exist when Forta launched in 2021! All of the growth here has occurred in the last 18 months. Forta is providing threat intelligence to over a dozen security and compliance companies, many of whom rely on Scam Detector for Web3 scam-specific data. This vertical is expected to continue growing through the next market cycle.
Research
The Forta Foundation is always investing in security research, as the important work researchers do sheds light on the threat landscape and can help to define the roadmap for the Forta Network. Over the last two years, the Foundation has awarded security research grants to The Ohio State University and University of California-Santa Barbara.
Auditors
Smart contract auditors play an important role in the pre-deployment security phase of any DeFi project. The external auditor is often the only security expertise a DeFi team has.
Auditors have made monitoring recommendations part of their written audit reports, and several have expanded their offerings with post-deployment SaaS-based offerings like OpenZeppelin Defender and Hacken Extractor. These SaaS tools are important go-to-market channels for Forta’s threat intelligence.
Wallets
Wallets are the default DeFi front-end for retail users, which also means wallets occupy a valuable position in the security conversation. They have the critical ability to warn users about malicious addresses and fraudulent transactions. Forta provides threat intel to wallets through a combination of the Scam Detector API data and via the Forta Metamask Snap.
Core Development
The Forta Network has engaged multiple teams to provide core development support, including OpenZeppelin and Nethermind, who have been involved in this capacity since the network’s inception in Q4 2021.
Infrastructure
Forta’s 4,000+ scan nodes rely on blockchain data to monitor transaction activity. Alchemy, Chainstack, Quicknode and Bware Labs are each long-standing partners serving the Forta node runner community.
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