| Report Date | 2026-06-17 |
| Submitted by | Clara van Staden |
The last few months I have been focused on mainly on Snowbridge security hardening, which seems fitting at a time where bridge hacks are at a high and AI tools are becoming more proficient at surfacing security issues.
After a Snowbridge false security alarm in May, we realized that our processes in case of an emergency need improvement. We have a CLI tool to generate the halt bridge preimage, but we realized it is too slow and cumbersome in an emergency situation. I automated the halt bridge preimage and call submission, which is now available on the Snowbridge dApp on a dedicated page (Menu dropdown -> Governance). The Snowbridge SDK supports generating this preimage. Additionally, I am working on an extension to verify the preimage bytes are valid and that it matches what has been tested against the Polkadot Ecosystem tests, to prove it has not been tampered with. I also updated our emergency procedure process documentation, so that we have clear steps to follow in a high-stakes, emergency situation.
I also implemented a couple of security hardening improvements (PR11856, PR10793) and in the on-chain code, surfaced through bug bountry reports, as well as fixed some bugs (PR10952, PR11919)
In the same vein, I have contributed two RFCs related to Snowbridge reactive and proactive security - one to implement a permissionless bridge halt (RFC-0166: Snowbridge Emergency Pause), given a sizeable DOT deposit and one to implement a circuit breaker on unusual move of funds (RFC-0167: Snowbridge Circuit Breaker ).
As part of a drive to work on Polkadot core protocol besides Snowbridge, I am going to contribute to the speculative messaging implementation. I have been attending design meetings and working through the spec with the Parity in preparation to contribute.
During this period I reviewed 40+ PRs across the ecosystem, mostly related to Snowbridge security hardening. The time spent on PR review is critical at this stage, given that any regressions may impact the bridge. We've seen how easy it is for seemingly simple PRs can open up new attack vectors, so this remains an important task in Snowbridge' security.
In this period, I've focused more on ensuring what Polkadot has is secure, having seen first hand how damaging breaches can be to the ecosystem's reputation. I believe my contributions meet the requirement for sustaining rank II.
Provide your voting record in relation to required thresholds for your rank.
| Ranks | Activity thresholds | Agreement thresholds | Member's voting activities | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| I | 90% | N/A | ||
| II | 80% | N/A | There were no valid referenda I was eligible to vote on. | |
| III | 70% | 100% | ||
| IV | 60% | 90% | ||
| V | 50% | 80% | ||
| VI | 40% | 70% |