SECURITY • GOVERNANCE • RISK • CONTROL
Web3 Security & GRC Foundations
A practical introduction to the security, governance, risk and control disciplines that underpin resilient Web3 businesses.
Knowledge Series
Web3 security is an enterprise-wide responsibility. Protecting digital assets requires more than secure code or wallet technology: organisations need clear accountability, disciplined operations, effective monitoring and evidence that critical controls work.
This foundation article introduces common crypto-asset attack paths and the control domains organisations should bring together. It is designed for founders, boards, technology teams, risk and compliance professionals, investors and institutional counterparties.
ALMR Web3 Security & GRC Knowledge Series
What this article covers
- Governance & accountability
- Custody & key management
- Identity & privileged access
- Secure engineering & protocol risk
Key Themes
Governance & accountability
Set board and senior-management oversight, assign risk owners, define decision rights and ensure material risks are escalated.
Custody & key management
Protect private keys and signing authority through appropriate custody architecture, segregation, lifecycle controls, recovery and monitoring.
Identity & privileged access
Control administrator and developer access with strong authentication, least privilege, separation of duties and periodic recertification.
Secure engineering & protocol risk
Manage secure development, code changes, smart-contract logic, bridges, oracles, upgrades and supply-chain dependencies.
Transaction controls & monitoring
Use independent transaction verification, risk-based approval thresholds, anomaly detection, reconciliation and escalation.
Third-party risk & resilience
Understand dependencies on cloud, wallet, custody, analytics and infrastructure providers; test incident response and continuity arrangements.
Management Review
- Who is accountable for digital-asset security and how are material risks reported to the board?
- Can one person, device, provider or compromised environment control a critical transaction?
- Are custody balances, customer liabilities and on-chain movements reconciled and exceptions investigated?
- Are smart-contract changes, privileged actions and third-party dependencies subject to independent controls?
- Can the organisation detect, contain, recover from and learn from a material security incident?
A practical perspective
The objective is not to accumulate policies. It is to establish clear ownership, controls that address material risks, reliable evidence and a process for continuous improvement.
Implementation Considerations
0–30 days | Establish baseline
Map business services, assets, wallets, privileged identities, protocols, third parties and material risk scenarios.
31–60 days | Design controls
Define governance, control owners, approval policies, access standards, monitoring requirements and incident playbooks.
61–90 days | Test and evidence
Test selected controls, validate recovery and escalation, document gaps and assign remediation owners.
Ongoing | Govern and improve
Monitor control performance, reassess threats and dependencies, report residual risk and refresh evidence.