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In an era where blockchain technology is revolutionizing industries, security remains one of its biggest challenges. With billions of dollars lost to malicious transactions, address poisoning, and fraudulent airdrops, the need for robust on-chain protection has never been more pressing.
To shed light on the scale of these threats and how Web3 security can be strengthened, The Founder sat down with Ido Ben Natan, CEO and Co-founder of Blockaid. With a background in Israeli Cyber Intelligence and years of experience leading R&D teams to defend national security, Ido is now on a mission to make Web3 safer. In this exclusive interview, he shares insights into the latest security trends, how Blockaid is tackling vulnerabilities, and what the future holds for blockchain security.
You’ve had a fascinating journey from Israeli Cyber Intelligence to co-founding Blockaid. What inspired you to transition into the Web3 security space?
My number one inspiration for getting into this field was my own experience in the field.
I was an early crypto user, and it was always apparent to me that this field is not ready for non-technical people and non-crypto-native organizations, as they were an easy target for attackers and had no tools to defend themselves.
By founding Blockaid, I wanted to take the experience I got from defending a nation-state cyberspace and bring it over to secure the onchain blockspace.
Cybersecurity is often an unseen battle. What was one of the most defining moments in your career that shaped your approach to security?
I think that the straw that broke the camel’s back for me was experiencing the BadgerDAO attack as a crypto user. I was doing cybersecurity for years at this point, and it infuriated me that such a simple attack – from a cyber perspective – could inflict this much damage.
Blockaid’s recent data highlights over $1.2 billion stolen on Ethereum alone this year. What are the key takeaways from your research?
The main takeaway from this is that as the onchain space grows, so does the threat landscape. We believe this trend will continue and repeat itself in any growing ecosystem – attackers see that more and more money is being poured into the market, and they want their cut.
Your upcoming security dashboard is set to launch soon. How will it help users and projects stay ahead of threats?
Our main goal with this dashboard is to give the wider audience access to the unique data held by Blockaid. As the security provider for the biggest companies operating onchain, our data provides unique insight into the real-world usage metrics that complement the onchain data available on the public ledger.
By giving this data away to the community, we believe we can empower other teams working in the space to make better decisions about how to approach the market – which in turn will bring the whole space forward.
How does Blockaid differentiate itself from other Web3 security solutions in the market?
Blockaid is the end-to-end solution securing the biggest companies working onchain. While other companies working in this space would usually focus on a specific use case, Blockaid offers complete security coverage of every attack surface - giving companies unique visibility into their security posture and allowing them to efficiently and effectively remediate any concerns or risks.
With the rise of malicious airdrops and phishing attacks, what best practices should everyday crypto users follow to stay safe?
There is a simple best practice that can help most users avoid most attacks; only use tools that have security features built in and top of mind.
Instead of trying to outsmart the attackers, the best strategy to avoid attackers is to realize that unless you’re spending all of your time following what the bad guys are up to (like our team at Blockaid does), you’re unlikely to keep up – which is why you should spend your time someplace else, and delegate this responsibility to the tools you use.
Given your experience in both national security and blockchain, where do you see Web3 security heading in the next five years?
My personal belief is that we are going to see a similar pattern to what the classical cybersecurity space has seen.
First, there were personal security products – anti-virus software. Then, as more and more organizations embraced the internet and the cloud, more complex types of threats emerged and stronger types of security solutions were invented – like EDRs and XDRs.
I believe the onchain security story will be similar. At first, we were focusing on securing end-users through wallet integration and token scanning.
Now, as more and more organizations move their assets onchain, we expect to see growing demand for onchain asset security solutions, like real-time contract monitoring and ODR (Onchain Detection and Response) systems.
Regulation is a hot topic in the crypto space. Do you think stricter regulations would help curb these security threats, or would they stifle innovation?
I think that it really depends on the regulation. While bad regulation can certainly make it harder to operate, good regulation can help bigger companies to work in this field without risking compliance.
Lastly, what advice would you give to founders and developers looking to build secure Web3 applications?
The best advice I can give to builders looking to ensure their projects are safe is to utilize solutions like Blockaid rather than doing security on their own. The threats move too fast, and even the biggest and brightest security teams have a hard time keeping their eyes on the ball. By using security tools that empower the security team, projects can focus on what they really care about – building.
Security remains the foundation for mainstream Web3 adoption, and Blockaid is leading the charge in protecting users and projects from evolving threats. With insights from Ido Ben Natan, it’s clear that vigilance, innovation, and a proactive approach to security are key to a safer blockchain ecosystem. As Blockaid continues to scale, its impact on the industry will be one to watch closely.
Blockaid
