The Solana Foundation has launched a new security initiative called STRIDE in response to recent major exploits on the network. The program provides 24/7 threat monitoring for decentralized finance protocols with over $10 million in total value locked and will fund formal verification services for those exceeding $100 million TVL. This follows a $285 million hack on the Solana-based Drift Protocol, which has been linked to North Korean hackers who allegedly planned the attack for six months.
The Solana Foundation has revealed plans to help secure the network’s largest DeFi protocols following a major exploit. It jointly launched STRIDE with Asymmetric Research, a tiered security program offering 24/7 monitoring for protocols with over $10 million in total value locked.
Protocols managing more than $100 million TVL will receive “formal verification” services funded by the Foundation. The initiative evaluates protocols against security standards before providing ongoing protection.
The program launched alongside the Solana Incident Response Network, a membership-based collective of security firms. Founding participants include OtterSec, Neodyme, Squads, and ZeroShadow.
The timing underscores an urgent need following a significant attack on Drift Protocol. Attackers drained $285 million from the Solana-based decentralized exchange in under 12 minutes on April 1.
Drift said on Sunday it discovered North Korean hackers spent six months infiltrating its team before the attack. Such incidents highlight why major networks are taking more direct responsibility for ecosystem security.
The tiered approach allocates resources proportionally to risk based on TVL thresholds. This recognizes that protocols managing hundreds of millions require different protection than smaller experiments.
Rapidly advancing AI is also a key concern, as it can help attackers find flaws. A recently fixed Zcash software exploit was discovered with the help of AI tooling.
