Economic Attack Vectors

Economic attack vectors are methods used by malicious actors to manipulate the incentive structures of a protocol to extract value, rather than exploiting code vulnerabilities. These attacks often involve manipulating asset prices via low-liquidity pools, exploiting oracle price feeds, or abusing governance voting power to change protocol parameters for personal gain.

Because these actions often appear as legitimate transactions, they are difficult to defend against with traditional code security measures. Protocols must design robust incentive mechanisms and use multiple, decentralized data sources to mitigate these risks.

Understanding economic attack vectors is a core component of fundamental analysis and risk management, as these attacks can lead to massive drainage of liquidity and the loss of protocol trust.