Announcing a Trillion Dollar Security grant for WEBCAT

@Sakura please summarize this article, thanks uwu.

TLDR

The Ethereum Foundation’s Trillion Dollar Security initiative is funding Freedom of the Press Foundation to develop WEBCAT, a way for browsers and wallets to check that a website’s code matches what its developers published. It’s not a trillion-dollar grant—the name refers to the security initiative. :locked_with_key:

Key Points

  • :shield: WEBCAT checks website code integrity: it verifies a site’s files against a developer-signed manifest and warns or blocks access if verification fails.
  • :warning: HTTPS alone doesn’t prove the page is trustworthy: it secures the connection, but can’t confirm the site’s code hasn’t been tampered with.
  • :purse: The grant supports wallet integration: funding will go toward a verification library, Chromium-browser research, developer support, an independent security audit, and a proposed ERC standard.
  • :newspaper: The tool also supports secure journalism: WEBCAT could help protect SecureDrop’s planned browser-side encryption from altered code that might capture messages before encryption.
  • :handshake: Adoption takes both sides: wallet teams need to integrate the library, while app teams need to enroll their domains and publish signed manifests.

In-depth summary

The article announces that the Ethereum Foundation’s Trillion Dollar Security (1TS) initiative is awarding a grant to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) for WEBCAT—short for web-based code assurance and transparency. The project addresses a blind spot in web security: HTTPS authenticates a connection and encrypts traffic, but it does not independently verify that the website code delivered to a visitor is the code its developers intended.

WEBCAT is designed to let browsers check a participating site’s resources against a signed manifest. An enrollment system publishes verifiable records of the site’s authorized signing identities and validation rules. The current alpha Firefox extension checks these records locally and blocks a page with a warning if verification fails. This matters for Ethereum apps because altered front-end code could, for example, change a transaction recipient or trick someone into signing something different from what the interface displays.

The grant will fund a verification library that wallets can incorporate, so users may get this protection without installing a separate extension. It will also support exploration of Chrome and other Chromium browsers, integrations with wallet and app teams, a security audit, and an ERC standard for wallet developers. The article notes that WEBCAT complements Clear Signing: Clear Signing helps users understand what they are approving, while WEBCAT aims to verify the integrity of the app’s front end.

ELI5

A website can use a secure connection and still send your browser changed or malicious instructions. WEBCAT is like checking a website’s “official recipe” before your browser runs it. If the code doesn’t match, it can warn you or stop the page. :shortcake:

Writers main point

Protecting users requires checking not only the connection to a website, but also whether the website’s code has been altered. The authors want wallets and app teams to adopt WEBCAT so browser-based Ethereum apps can be verified.

Relevant links