Building Secure Bitcoin Applications with JavaScript Libraries; Dependency Management
Tags: bitcoin, webdev, node
Published: 2024-02-02 08:49:12

Bitcoin, the pioneering cryptocurrency, is a decentralized and open-source digital currency that fundamentally reshapes traditional notions of finance. At its core, Bitcoin operates without a central authority, relying on a distributed network of nodes to validate and record transactions securely. It's development ecosystem is no different, also decentralized in it's management structure. As such, there are a handful of versions of the technology being built with various technologies and programming languages. JavaScript, the powerhouse of the Web, is one of them. 

Libraries built-in JavaScript are usually uploaded on the **NPM registry** as packages, a centralized repository that hosts and manages JavaScript packages and modules. This registry is open source, and as such anyone can create and upload a JavaScript Package. This leaves little room for regulation against malware/ faulty code being bundled/disguised as a harmless package and uploaded onto the registry for public use. An example of such a case would be the recent [event-stream](https://blog.npmjs.org/post/180565383195/details-about-the-event-stream-incident) incident, where malware was listed as a dependency to another popular npm package, event-stream. In Developing Bitcoin applications, It is very important to verify the suitability and authenticity of the dependency to ensure that the core security principles upon which the technology hinges, some of which include decentralization and privacy are not jeopardized by these packages or their dependencies
 
# Dependency Management Practices
These are some steps one can take toward effective dependency management in building Bitcoin applications. We look at them in this section. Some of the them include:

## 1. Inspect Package Documentation/ Code
A quick browse through the package documentation can give you a general idea of the idea behind the package implementation and some of it's core features as well as it's dependencies. This is strongly encouraged in the community as it promotes the spirit of open source collaboration

## 2. Avoid using random, unpopular packages when necessary.
Simply put, a package with few regular users/downloads, has fewer sets of eyes on it, and less community adoption. And as such the likelihood of a malicious user sneaking malicious code into said package is higher. While this is not a determining factor in ascertaining the safety of a package, it is one of the factors to consider.

### 3. Audit Packages Regularly:
Auditing Packages is one step that can be taken toward detecting vulnerabilities in the packages used in your Bitcoin application. Audits are an inbuilt feature in npm, which can be triggered using ` npm audit `. This scans all the packages listed in your entire *package.json* file and lists out the potential breaking changes, and vulnerabilities in your dependencies that may be a threat to your user's security. *audit* can be further supplemented with a fix command, triggered by adding a *fix* prefix to npm audit like so; `npm audit fix`. 

### 4. Using a .npmrc file
Adding this file to the root of your project folder can help limit the access of third-party packages. 

### 5. Using vulnerability scanners
Using Vulnerability scanners such as Synk can help detect vulnerabilities in your dependencies. Synk offers free support for individual projects and can be setup by installing Synk globally on your computer using the command `npm install -g synk` and triggered using the *test* command i.e `sync test` from your project folder

# CONCLUSION
In the realm of Software engineering, It would be erroneous to say that your system, software or application is completely secure. With that said, The above practice, procedures do not completely guarantee you complete security against bad/malicious dependency packages. However, If applied properly they could help prevent a myraid of security problems and protect your user's funds/data