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Version 1.0 — Effective November 20, 2025

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Scope and intent

These requirements establish a practical baseline for operating an Autheo validator that safeguards network security and liveness without creating technical defaults for good-faith operators. Reasonable maintenance and force-majeure events are accounted for.

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Minimum system profile

a) Compute and storage. Enterprise-grade CPU, sufficient RAM for active chain state, and NVMe SSD sized for projected 12-month growth plus 25% headroom. b) Network. Stable connectivity with a static or reserved IP, properly configured firewall/NAT, and upstream bandwidth and latency sufficient for consensus and gossip. c) Operating system. A currently supported 64-bit Linux distribution with timely security updates, hardened per common benchmarks. d) Key custody. Hardware security module, secure enclave, or equivalent isolated signing (including remote signer) strongly recommended for validator keys. e) Time sync. NTP or equivalent time service must be enabled and healthy.

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Software currency and patching

a) Critical patches. Apply Autheo-designated critical security patches within 72 hours of notice. b) Routine updates. Apply non-critical, recommended client releases within 7 days of notice. c) Emergency directives. For a confirmed exploit or network instability, Autheo may issue an emergency directive with a shorter timeline; operators should make best efforts to comply promptly.

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Uptime target and measurement

a) Target. Monthly validator uptime target is 99.5%. b) Measurement. Uptime is measured by Autheo telemetry against the validator’s expected participation, including proposals, attestations, and commits as applicable. c) Exclusions. The following are excluded from uptime calculations: i) Planned maintenance up to 8 hours per calendar month with at least 24 hours advance notice via the operator’s designated channel or dashboard; ii) Force majeure events (regional power or ISP outages, natural disasters, widespread cloud provider incidents) outside the operator’s reasonable control; iii) Autheo-directed maintenance or upgrades; iv) Protocol-level incidents outside the operator’s control. d) Cure window. A single month below target does not constitute a breach if the operator implements reasonable remediation. Two consecutive months below target may require a corrective action plan; suspension is a last resort after notice and failure to cure.

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Slashing and safety controls

a) Double-sign prevention. Operators must use configurations and tooling intended to prevent double signing, such as sentry/validator architecture, quorum checks, and safe key migrations. b) Incident reporting. Suspected key compromise, double signing, or major misconfiguration must be reported to Autheo within 24 hours, with a mitigation plan. c) Recovery. Operators should maintain tested procedures for key rotation and machine failover.

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Monitoring and logging

a) Telemetry. Enable standard metrics and health probes for liveness, peer count, consensus participation, and resource utilization. b) Alerts. Configure alerts for process health, disk exhaustion, time drift, missed duties, and version skew. c) Retention. Maintain relevant logs and metrics for at least 90 days for incident analysis. Autheo may request excerpts for network security investigations.

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Change management

a) Grace periods. Autheo may update technical requirements to address security or performance. Unless designated critical or emergency, operators will have a reasonable grace period to comply. b) Compatibility. Operators should avoid untested kernel, driver, or client changes that could impair consensus participation.

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Acceptable architectures

a) Sentry pattern. Use of public sentry nodes in front of a private validator is recommended to reduce attack surface. b) Cloud or on-premises. Either is acceptable provided the security baseline, key custody, and uptime targets are met. Provider diversity for redundancy is encouraged.

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Compliance and enforcement

a) Good-faith standard. Autheo will apply these requirements in good faith, considering operator evidence of reasonable diligence. b) Progressive steps. If material non-compliance persists after notice and a reasonable cure period, Autheo may take proportionate steps permitted by the Agreement, up to temporary suspension to protect network integrity. c) No waiver of risk. Meeting these requirements does not eliminate protocol-level risks or penalties imposed by on-chain rules.

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Documentation and contact

Operators must keep current contact details on file and maintain an internal runbook covering deployment, upgrades, failover, and incident response. Autheo may distribute advisories and release notices through designated channels; operators are responsible for monitoring them.