Amid a surge of DeFi security breaches, Keone Hon, co-founder of the high-performance blockchain Monad, has released a detailed 10-point security checklist designed to help protocols conduct internal audits. The checklist zeroes in on three critical pillars: administrative permissions, fund safety, and multi-signature architecture, with a strong emphasis on time-lock mechanisms and real-time monitoring.
Key Elements of the Checklist
The first point requires protocols to identify all admin functions that could lead to fund loss and mandate time locks on every such operation to prevent instant privilege escalation. It also recommends a thorough review of privileged accounts, adoption of a multi-signature structure with clear signature thresholds (e.g., 3-of-5 or 4-of-7), and the use of dedicated cold devices for multi-sig actions to avoid hot wallet exposure. Employee devices must have anti-malware protection to defend against phishing attacks.
For fund security, the checklist suggests implementing withdrawal rate limits (e.g., daily caps) and real-time monitoring of admin function calls, with immediate alerts when anomalies are detected. Finally, teams should analyze potential attack vectors and optimize system design to reduce the attack surface, such as separating fund modules from governance modules.
The $285M Wake-Up Call: Drift Protocol
Shortly before the checklist surfaced, Drift Protocol suffered a $285 million exploit after altering its multi-sig setup without a time lock — a direct violation of the checklist's core principle that any admin permission change must pass through a time-lock delay. Following the incident, DRIFT token price rebounded 23.13% and MON rose 4.67%, reflecting market optimism about remediation but leaving underlying security concerns unresolved.
DeFi Security Landscape Worsens, AI Attacks Accelerate
In 2026, total DeFi hack losses have already exceeded $840 million, with North Korean-linked groups accounting for a growing share. Moreover, AI-driven attacks are evolving rapidly and are expected to dominate by 2025 (i.e., late 2026 in context). On the Monad chain, Echo Protocol lost $816,000 from unauthorized eBTC minting, and earlier the Monad chain itself saw a $7.645 million eBTC theft where the hacker netted only $860,000 — highlighting the fragility of cross-chain asset management.
Conclusion and Recommendations
Keone Hon's 10-point list offers a pragmatic blueprint for protocol self-audits: time locks are non-negotiable, multi-sig thresholds must be set correctly, and cold devices isolate risk. As attack methods shift from manual exploit hunting to AI-powered automation, protocol teams should embed this checklist into every phase of development and supplement it with regular external audits. As the checklist reminds us, “There is no perfect security, only continuous risk management.”