🔧 Solana Program Authority Security: 5 Upgrade Guardrails That Would Have Saved Step Finance's $27M

On January 31, 2026, Step Finance lost 261,854 SOL (~$27.3 million) — not to a smart contract bug, but to compromised executive devices and stolen private keys. The attacker gained control of the program upgrade authority, deployed a malicious version, and drained the treasury in minutes.

Step Finance, SolanaFloor, and Remora Markets all shut...