As we transition into the era of Web3 and the emergence of decentralized applications (DApps), the decentralization of the frontend is gaining significance. The frontend, which constitutes the user-facing component of a DApp, is commonly hosted on centralized servers. However, this centralized setup poses various concerns such as security risks, potential service disruptions, and limited authority over data and user interaction.
Over the past couple of years, the frontend of different organizations whether its government or private has encountered a series of disruptive incidents that have underscored the vulnerabilities within its infrastructure.
Here are some notable frontend attacks that occurred in 2023
Balancer Frontend Attack: A frontend attack exploited a vulnerability in the platforms frontend code, which allowed the attacker to inject malicious code into the protocols domain. This contract was then able to steal users funds when they interacted with the platform.
Air Europa Data Breach: Hackers managed to access the financial information of Air Europa, leading to the cancellation of all credit cards by the customers. The hackers extracted card numbers, expiration dates, and 3-digit CVV numbers.
Topgolf Callaway Data Breach: The US golf club manufacturer suffered a large data breach affecting over one million customers. The stolen data included full names, shipping addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, account passwords, and security question answers.
American Airlines Data Breach: Hackers stole personal information relating to thousands of pilots who applied for roles at American Airlines and Southwest Airlines.
UPS Canada Data Breach: United Parcel Service reported that their personal data may have been exposed in a breach.
Slack Security Incident: Slack's GitHub account was compromised, and a limited number of Slack employee tokens were stolen and misused.
DarkBeam: In 2023, DarkBeam experienced a massive data breach, with 3.8 billion breached records. This incident was considered one of the biggest data breaches of the year.
ICMR Indian Council of Medical Research: The ICMR experienced a data breach on October 2, 2023, where the personal data of 815 million Indian residents was exfiltrated from their Covid-testing database and offered for sale on the dark web. The data included victims' names, ages, genders, addresses, passport numbers, and Aadhaar numbers.
PharMerica: The US pharmacy network PharMerica suffered a data breach between March 12 and 13, 2023. The compromised personal information includes patients' names, addresses, dates of birth, Social Security numbers, health insurance data, and medical data.
Latitude Financial: In March 2023, Latitude Financial experienced a data breach where 14 million records were compromised due to the exploitation of GoAnywheres file transfer service vulnerability.
Reddit: The ALPHV ransomware group, also known as BlackCat, claimed responsibility for a February cyberattack on Reddit. The attack resulted in the theft of 80GB of data, including internal documents, source code, and employee and advertiser information.
Italian Banks: On August 1, 2023, several banks across Italy were taken offline due to targeted distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks. The Russian hacking gang, NoName, was responsible for the attacks.
How to achieve decentralized frontend hosting?
Decentralized hosting involves hosting online content without relying on centralized servers or infrastructure, which is typical in traditional web hosting. Instead of storing data on servers owned by a few companies, decentralized hosting uses a network of distributed computers, or nodes, working together to serve content.
One prevalent method for decentralized web hosting utilizes blockchain technology. This technology provides a secure and transparent way to store and share data. Content is stored on a peer-to-peer network, where each user serves as a node contributing computing power and storage to the network.
The significance of decentralized hosting lies in its transformation of how websites and online applications are hosted and utilized within the web3 environment. It ensures heightened security, redundancy, and resistance to censorship. Decentralized hosting achieves this by utilizing peer-to-peer networks, blockchain tech, and other distribution methods, ensuring that website files remain accessible even during network disruptions. Since there isn't a single point of failure, the risk of server failures or data loss due to cyberattacks is significantly reduced.
To host a decentralized frontend, you need to use Web3 technologies and tools to create and distribute website files via a network of nodes. Here are the steps to follow:
1. Store the Files on the decentralized network
You can store your frontend files on a web3 system like IPFS. However, it is essential to break these files into smaller segments and distribute them across different nodes within the decentralized network.
To store files on the network during decentralized web hosting, you can leverage the benefit of Spheron Network. Using the platform, you can use many popular frameworks, like Gatsby, Hugo, Next.js, React, Vue, Vanilla JS, etc. Spheron Network has specific guides for each framework to help you prepare your site. Also, you can follow these blogs for a step-by-step guide.
2.Acquire a Domain Name
A domain name is crucial for making your decentralized frontend discoverable. Traditionally, domain names are owned by centralized organizations, but you can obtain a decentralized domain from providers that offer greater control. A decentralized frontend is hosted on a server that a single organization or individual does not manage, and its domain name is also decentralized. As a result, the website's address cannot be revoked, and the data stored on it is secure from tampering or destruction. A platform like ENS is an excellent starting point for this.
You must link your website files to the Ethereum Name System (DNS). The time it takes for ENS changes to propagate may vary depending on your service provider. Once the connection is established, you'll obtain a unique hash or identifier for your link.
Follow this blog for a Guide to Connect Your Static Site with an ENS Domain.
3.Set Up Gateways
Dedicated Gateways are IPFS gateways specifically designed to enhance access to pinned content across the network by offering faster speeds and increased rate limits. They ensure a more reliable and consistent experience when accessing and serving content on the IPFS network.
Simplifying Frontend with Spheron Network
You can establish decentralized hosting for your frontend by distributing it across multiple nodes, elevating availability, security, and decentralization. Web3 infrastructure service providers, like Spheron Network, offer robust solutions for this purpose.
Spheron Network is a PaaS designed for startups, optimizing scalability and minimizing infrastructural costs to boost growth and profitability. Spheron simplifies the frontend hosting process, making it easy for developers to deploy their applications in just a matter of minutes. Spheron offers a suite of services that support blockchain applications, including hosting, storage, and computing services.
With Spheron's user-friendly interface and robust infrastructure, users can focus on developing great apps and dapps without worrying about the hassle of setting up and managing servers. Spheron Network takes care of the technical details so developers can concentrate on what matters most - creating innovative and successful frontend applications.
Spheron platform encompasses three primary categories: Web hosting, computing, and storage services. Let's delve into each of these to gain a more comprehensive understanding.
1. Spheron Web Hosting
Spheron Network provides a simple, fast, and economical solution to deploy and host dApps on any decentralized cloud network in three streamlined steps:
Connect your repository
Configure your settings
Launch your decentralized applications
Spheron makes front-end web deployment easy, effective, and efficient and reduces the learning curve of different chains through its simplified platform that takes web applications to Decentralized Storage Networks (DSNs).
Spheron supports 20+ frameworks , including React, Next, Gatsby, and many more, and offers a complete suite of services to support decentralized applications. Users can deploy static sites on Spheron by connecting their Github, Gitlab, or Bitbucket accounts.
With Spheron Hosting, users get many features such as Preview Links, Image Optimization, Private Repository Support, Shared IPFS Gateway, EDGE Network, HTTP/SSL by default, Secureon Support, DDoS Mitigation, PPS. Spheron also provides comprehensive documentation, support, and open community, helping users navigate any challenges they may face during deployment and development.
2.Spheron Storage
Spheron's Storage provides SDKs as a tool that makes it easy for developers to upload files directly from a web browser to services like IPFS, Filecoin, or Arweave. It handles all the complexities of interacting with the IPFS network so users can focus on building their applications without worrying about the details. The SDK also offers features like encryption, access control, and streaming, making it a powerful tool for creating modern web applications.
Spheron also provides an intuitive Spheron Browser SDK that allows developers to store their data on IPFS securely. The SDK provides convenient functionalities and supports multiple protocols, allowing developers to use various decentralized storage networks seamlessly. Using the Spheron Browser SDK combined with IPFS provides a powerful and efficient solution for decentralized data storage.
One of the main advantages of using these SDKs is that you can avoid writing complex code for file uploading, such as multi-chunking and parallelization. Another advantage is that it takes care of storage scalability and redundancy, so users don't have to worry about managing lots of server space or developing a complicated mechanism for load balancing on their server instances.
3.Spheron Compute
Spheron simplifies setting up an IPFS node using Spheron Compute and white-labeling the gateway using a custom domain. Spheron Compute allows users to quickly deploy an IPFS node and access its features like IPFS Web Interface and IPFS Gateway. To get started, users can create a new cluster by clicking on the "New Cluster" button and selecting the IPFS template from the marketplace. Spheron Compute also allows users to deploy their IPFS nodes, giving them more ownership over their content. They can add their custom domains and fully control how their content is served.
Conclusion
The era of Web3 is transforming the landscape of web hosting and frontend deployment, emphasizing decentralization as a pivotal aspect of security, reliability, and data integrity. The recent spate of notable frontend attacks and data breaches in 2023 has underscored the vulnerabilities of centralized hosting infrastructures. This necessitates a shift towards decentralized hosting methodologies to mitigate such risks and ensure a more resilient digital ecosystem.
Decentralized hosting, facilitated by Web3 technologies like blockchain and distributed networks, offers a shift in web infrastructure. Utilizing platforms such as Spheron Network, developers can easily deploy, host, and manage decentralized applications (DApps) and websites on distributed cloud networks. Its web hosting, storage, and computing services streamline the deployment process, enabling developers to focus on innovation without the complexities of managing servers.
In the pursuit of a more secure, resilient, and censorship-resistant internet, decentralized frontend hosting, powered by Web3 technologies and exemplified by platforms like Spheron Network, marks a crucial step forward. This shift not only shows the reliability and security of frontend applications but also fosters a more democratized and inclusive digital ecosystem for the future.
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