Use Forta
What can Forta be used for?
The Forta Network monitors on-chain activity in real-time, detecting threats, security-related events and other noteworthy activity. The network is made up of thousands of detection bots developed by a community of Web3 developers and security experts. Each bot acts like a little security camera monitoring something specific on-chain. Some bots monitor generic threats (i.e. phishing attacks, rug pulls), and others monitor protocol-specific activity (i.e. Lido, Compound).
The output from all this monitoring and detection is what we call threat intelligence - data that tells you the “who, what, when, where and how” about threats and security events.
Users can access threat intel generated by any bot on the network. Certain bots the community feels are particularly high value have been packaged up into Premium Feeds, like the Scam Detector. Premium Feeds are owned and maintained by one or more reputable community members (teams and/or individuals) and must meet certain requirements for performance and precision. The price for each Premium Feed is set by the owner. Intel from the other bots on the network can be accessed under the network’s General subscription plan option.
You can see all the Premium Feeds here. You can also browse the 1,000+ other bots on the network here.
Intel from Premium Feeds and individual bots can be accessed either through Forta’s GraphQL API (pull) or by subscribing to a bot directly (push) to receive notifications via email, Slack, or Telegram, among other options. Purchasing one or more network subscriptions allows you to access both options.
Who uses Forta?
Wallets, compliance solutions, protocols, liquidity providers, investors, exchanges, among others, use Forta’s threat intelligence. They query the Forta API to get labels and alerts, or subscribe to notifications, from threat intelligence data feeds.
How much do I have to pay to use Forta?
There are different plans which provide access to different sets of data feeds. Premium feeds are provided by dedicated bot developers and can provide sophisticated and curated data, and have custom pricing set by their owners. There is also a general plan which gives access to hundreds of detection bots, and is priced at 250 FORT.
All plans provide unlimited access to the API, as well as subscription to notifications via Slack, Email, Telegram, Discord, or a custom Webhook.
How can I access the data generated by the Forta Network?
You can use Forta’s GraphQL API to query the data, or subscribe to notifications through the Forta App and receive alerts via Slack, Email, Telegram, Discord, or a custom Webhook.
Here you can learn how to use the API.
Here you can learn how to subscribe to notifications using the Forta App.
How can I find valuable detection bots in the network?
A good way to start is to look at the premium feeds featured in the Forta App, which are offered by dedicated bot developers and can offer sophisticated and curated detection bots that provide high value for a specific use case.
In addition, you can also use the search function in Forta App to look for the bot that best fits your needs, among the hundreds of existing bots in the network.
Build Detection Bots
How do I write a detection bot with the SDK?
Here you can find a quickstart guide to write your first detection bot using the SDK.
Do I need special hardware to build bots?
The average consumer laptop is more than sufficient to build bots. If you are using your existing developer machine, you will do great.
What are best practices when writing detection bots?
You can take a look at some of the best practices for writing detection bots here.
What are some advanced techniques for developing bots?
The open source Forta SDK is extremely flexible and encourages bot developers to unleash their creativity. Here there are some advanced techniques which are useful when creating sophisticated detection bots.
Where can I find examples of detection bots?
Here you can take a look at some examples of detection bots. In addition, you can use the Forta App to search for bots.
Do I get compensated for building detection bots?
Yes, bot developers receive rewards from users that subscribe to their detection bots.
Can I hide the code of the detection bots I write?
Yes, you can obfuscate the code as explained here.
Do I have to ask permission from anyone to deploy a bot to the network?
No, developing and deploying detection bots is permissionless. Just remember that after you deploy the detection bot, you have to stake for it to be enabled and run by scan nodes, in accordance with Network parameters (currently 100 FORT).
Can I write bots without having to code?
Yes, the open source Forta detection bot Wizard is a no-code tool that enables anyone to create simple bots with just a few clicks, based on existing templates. Here you can learn how and start using the Wizard.
Running a Scan Node
How do I run a scan node?
Please see the scan node guide guide to learn how to set up a scan node.
Do I get compensated for running nodes?
Scan nodes get rewards according to their performance (measured via their uptime and SLA) and their security (measured via their stake). Here you can find more detail on the rewards formula, and here you can find updates regarding weekly rewards.
FORT Token
What is the FORT token used for?
FORT is a utility token that can be used to stake on node pools, to stake on detection bots, to pay fees, and also to participate in governance. You can learn more here.
What chain is the FORT token in?
FORT is an ERC-20 on Ethereum
(Address: 0x41545f8b9472D758bB669ed8EaEEEcD7a9C4Ec29)
Additionally, staking happens in Forta’s smart contracts on Polygon, where the bridged version of FORT is used (Address:0x9ff62d1FC52A907B6DCbA8077c2DDCA6E6a9d3e1).
What is the total supply of the FORT token?
The total supply is 1,000,000,000 FORT.
How can I delegate FORT?
Delegating FORT to secure scan pools in the network can be done with just a few clicks from the Forta App. Here you can find a detailed guide.
General
What are detection bots?
Detection bots refer to a set of code scripts within a Docker container that process some blockchain data (i.e. a block or transaction) and detect specific threat conditions (e.g. whether a flash loan attack occurred, or whether a particular account balance fell below some threshold). Bots are executed by scan nodes, and emit alerts for their findings.
What are scan nodes?
A scan node executes detection bots for every transaction and every new block on a specific blockchain network. The scan node manages and coordinates bots (e.g. by instantiating and running bots, and restarting bots that become unresponsive). The scan node ferries blockchain data to bots to process the transaction/block.
How does Forta ensure reliable monitoring?
The Forta Network combines different approaches to ensure reliable monitoring. Firstly, scan nodes must produce a proof of scan for every block, so performance is measured continuously and an SLA score is calculated at all times. If SLA score is below an accepted threshold, the node stops receiving rewards and detection bots get unassigned from it. In addition, each bot is assigned and gets run by multiple nodes. This redundancy ensures that even if one node is not performing correctly, the others will. Additionally, for those detection bots that are very resource intensive and may not be handled well by a node, sharding can be enabled to shard the bot and have it be executed partially on different nodes. Finally, nodes have staking requirements, and can be slashed if found to be acting maliciously. This, as well as the effect of low SLA on rewards, represents an economic incentive for nodes to have good performance.
How are Forta findings validated?
Forta scan nodes gather findings from detection bots for each block and then store a proof of scan on IPFS and broadcast the finding details to the Forta analyzer node. Users can obtain the detailed information from the Forta analyzer node via the public API, which can be validated against the proof of scan data on IPFS. The analyzer node performs data indexing and may provide additional analysis.
What chains does Forta support?
Forta supports monitoring on the following chains: Ethereum, Polygon, BNB Chain, Avalanche, Arbitrum, Optimism and Fantom.
What machine learning techniques are being used in Forta?
The community of data scientists and developers in the Forta Network have created multiple detection bots that use advanced machine learning techniques for detection. These include deep learning, supervised classification, anomaly detection, time series anomaly detection, and clustering, among others. You can learn more about how machine learning is being used in the Forta Network here.
Is Forta a blockchain?
Short answer: no. Forta is not a blockchain in the sense that it does not maintain a shared state between nodes, but it has similar characteristics to a blockchain in that it is a decentralized network of nodes. Forta is more similar to The Graph protocol in that it runs on top of a blockchain. Forta uses a blockchain (i.e. Polygon) to coordinate scan nodes and store IPFS references to alerts generated by bots.