Shielder audit by ZK Security: complete!

We are excited to share a major milestone on our journey to making privacy easier and safer: Aleph Zero Shielder has been audited successfully by highly respected ZK Security, a top-notch player in zero-knowledge (ZK) cryptography.

Who is ZK Security?

ZK Security is a leading security firm with experience in zero-knowledge technology. They’re well-regarded in the blockchain space for their deep experience and rigorous auditing of privacy-protection mechanisms, having audited Aleo, Penumbra, and Aztec, to name a few.

If a project has been audited by ZK Security, then the code has been thoroughly reviewed by professionals who are deeply familiar with the nuances of ZK cryptography.

The scope

It took ZK Security two weeks to audit the Aleph Zero Shielder, which is a key privacy component allowing users to send and receive tokens without revealing who sent what to whom. What they audited was:

• The ZK privacy circuits behind deposits, withdrawals, and account opening.
• The Solidity smart contracts that manage user funds.
• The SDK (software development kit) powering apps on the Shielder system.

“The code was found to be clean and well tested.”

While ZK Security did find some room for improvement, all of the issues they’ve highlighted have already been resolved by the Aleph Zero team. Most of the discoveries were minor or entirely theoretical in nature—no critical issues were found. Security is always at the forefront of our thinking, and improvements were made anyway.

This audit comes on top of our own internal security reviews. That means:

• Shielder has now been internally and externally vetted.
• Users can be confident that their privacy lies on a solid, secure foundation.

Why it matters: Shielder powers the Common app

Shielder is not a standalone tool by itself—it’s a key part of our upcoming Common app, our next-generation crypto app with a focus on user privacy. With Shielder, Common will allow you to control your crypto privately, protecting your actions from public view while giving you the power to control what stays private and what doesn’t.

Shielder is also the key to the Shielder SDK, a set of tools for developers to embed privacy in the wallets and dApps that they build.

This audit is one more step toward making powerful privacy tools as easy to use as mainstream apps—with none of the doubt and all of the safety.

Want the technical details?

If you’re curious and want to know more about the results or the full scope of the audit, you can read the full report here.