A recent analysis of the Sui network highlighted a significant oversight: the apparent lack of attention to external security hygiene among validators. Despite revelations about potential vulnerabilities, the community’s response suggested a need for more accessible and integrated security tools. This observation spurred the development of PGDN Sentinel, an innovative Discord bot designed to empower Sui validators with effortless, routine external posture checks.

Why a Discord Bot for Security?
Validators on the Sui network, like many blockchain communities, predominantly operate within Discord for crucial activities such as epoch coordination, validator channel communications, and critical announcements. Integrating a security tool directly into this existing workflow offers unparalleled convenience. PGDN Sentinel leverages this familiar environment, providing a private and agentic security toolkit delivered entirely through Discord Direct Messages or server channels. This approach eliminates the need for separate dashboards, complex login credentials, or software installations, simplifying security assessments to intuitive slash commands.

Prioritizing Data Privacy and Actionable Insights
During its development and initial data collection, PGDN Sentinel identified numerous genuine security concerns, including CVEs and misconfigurations within validator setups. Recognizing the sensitive nature of this information, the project prioritizes privacy by keeping this detailed vulnerability data non-public. However, validators can securely verify their ownership within the bot’s framework to access a personalized list of identified issues, along with complimentary guidance for remediation. This ensures that critical security insights are delivered directly and confidentially to those who can act on them.

Technical Foundation
PGDN Sentinel’s architecture comprises two main open-source Python repositories: a ‘bot’ application that handles Discord webhooks and an ‘API’ service. The API securely connects to a database storing the security assessment data and operates within a Kubernetes cluster, with ingress access carefully restricted for enhanced security. This robust backend supports a scalable and reliable front-end interaction through Discord.

The Importance of Proactive Security
Previous research, such as the ‘Simulated Attack’ model, demonstrated how a concentrated attack could potentially disable enough validators to breach the critical 33% halt threshold on a blockchain network. PGDN Sentinel directly addresses this vulnerability by making external security posture checks both routine and straightforward. The goal is to provide validators with the necessary insights to fortify their nodes against exposure, democratizing security intelligence without requiring a dedicated Security Operations Center (SOC) team.

Get Started with PGDN Sentinel
Validators and interested users are encouraged to explore PGDN Sentinel to enhance their understanding of node security. The bot can be easily added to any Discord server or used via direct message. The underlying code for both the API and the Discord bot is open-source under an MIT license, welcoming community contributions and independent deployment.

• Add PGDN Sentinel in Discord: https://pgdn.ai/pgdn-sentinel-discord
• PGDN API GitHub Repository: https://github.com/pgdn-oss/pgdn-api-discord
• PGDN Discord Bot GitHub Repository: https://github.com/pgdn-oss/pgdn-discord