Brink is proud to support Eugene Siegel as an open source engineer contributing to Bitcoin Core. With a background as a security engineer working on the Lightning Network and having already disclosed multiple Bitcoin Core security vulnerabilities, we are excited about how Eugene will help ensure the long-term security, resilience, and decentralization of Bitcoin.
As a full-time engineer, Eugene will focus on improving Bitcoin Core’s security and robustness through enhanced fuzz testing.
About Eugene
Eugene writes of his Bitcoin experience and goals:
I’ve been passionate about cybersecurity from a young age. When I was 13, my best friend in middle school introduced me to SQL injection, sparking my curiosity. In August, 2013, when I was 16, I successfully begged my mom to bring me to DEFCON 21 in Las Vegas, where I first discovered Bitcoin. However, it wasn’t until 2016 that I began contributing seriously, working on a CoinShuffle implementation.
Since then, I have worked on various Bitcoin-related security projects, including bringing zero-conf channels to the Lightning Network, patching vulnerabilities in LND, and responsibly disclosing security issues in projects such as LDK (1) and Bitcoin Core (1, 2).
With support from Brink, I’ll be focusing on improving fuzzing coverage in net_processing, particularly in compact blocks processing. My work will involve writing and reviewing fuzz tests, optimizing existing code to be more fuzzer-friendly, and ensuring tests run efficiently. Strengthening Bitcoin’s fuzzing infrastructure is a crucial step in making Bitcoin Core’s complex state machines more resilient to unexpected conditions.
I think Bitcoin Core is leading the way in fuzzing in the industry, and I hope to contribute to its role as a model for other projects looking to apply fuzzing techniques effectively in their own domains.
About Brink
Brink is a Bitcoin research and development centre, founded in 2020 to support independent open source protocol developers and mentor new contributors. If you or your organization is interested in supporting open source Bitcoin development, feel free to email us, donate@brink.dev.
Developers interested in the grant program can apply now.
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