Cryptonite, a new kind of security browser add-on for cryptocurrency enthusiasts

How do you know when it’s safe to open a link inside an email, or via Telegram, Slack, Twitter, or any other messaging service? In short, you don’t. Not really. Not unless you use the right tools to keep you safe from malicious attacks such as phishing scams.

MetaCert’s security app for Slack protects many crypto communities when opening links inside Slack. But we felt more protection was needed. Cryptonite will provide ultimate protection for Slack communities that are already being protected by MetaCert but they can be used by anyone.

By installing Cryptonite, you are much less likely to fall for a phishing scam. 🎣 💣

• Install Cryptonite for Chrome
• Install Cryptonite for Firefox

How it works

One utility. Two features.

• The software blocks known phishing websites. That’s easy. MetaMask does a good job of this too — along with providing other unique benefits. We recommend MetaMask at MetaCert — it’s not our browser software even though the name might suggest otherwise. By the way, MetaCert has the world’s most advanced threat intelligence system with the world’s biggest database of classified URLs for security. Even if you already use MetaMask you should install Cryptonite for most important feature. See below.

• Here’s the magic. 🎩 When you install this software, it will add a small black shield to your browser toolbar. Every time you visit a crypto website that has been “Verified by MetaCert” the shield will turn from black to green. This indicates that the site is 100% guaranteed to be the real website and not an imposter with a phishing site. So, if it’s not green assume it’s not safe until you prove otherwise.

Using Cryptonite should make it virtually impossible for anyone to fall for a MyEtherWallet phishing scam.

Why the green shield is important

As you can see from the screen shot above, OceanProtocol.com has an SSL Certificate — the browser sees this and puts a padlock in the address bar. This means the website is secure therefore safe to transmit sensitive information. The padlock does not indicate that this website really is the real deal. Basic SSL Certs are free and have been used by phishing sites for quite some time.

To prove to you that a website is really owned by company x, they must buy what’s called an Extended Validation Certificate. These are expensive, labor intensive and it takes time to process. In my personal opinion, EV Certs add little to no value because the vast majority of consumers don’t know the difference between a basic SSL and an extended one. This is why we felt it was important to put a visual indicator on the toolbar.

Watch the video demo below to see how Cryptonite works.

Why you can trust Cryptonite

Cryptonite was built by the same developers who brought you the official add-ons for digg, Delicious, Yahoo!, eBay, PayPal and Google. They were also responsible for bug fixing Firefox during the early days of the Mozilla open source project.

These add-ons are free and will soon be open sourced.

What kind of sites are verified by MetaCert?

We have verified and labeled as many crypto wallets and exchanges as we could find in the short time that we looked. Please let us know if we’ve missed any [email protected] or leave a comment on this post. Or tweet us twitter.com/metacert

When it comes to Crypto communities such as those behind Token launches and ICOs, we only verify MetaCert customers. For the most part, we want to provide them with as much value as possible by offering this as a free service. If you are a customer and you find that your site or social media account isn’t turning the shield to green, please get in touch [email protected]

If you would like to become a customer by installing our security software for your Slack community, please visit slacksecurity.metacert.com

Your privacy is extremely important to us

At MetaCert we do not use any monitoring or analytics software for Cryptonite. This means that we have no way of knowing who is searching for what. Your personal browser history is not transmitted or stored by MetaCert. It’s true that our software analyzes all of the URLs you visit — but we have no way to identify who you are or any device you use. We don’t track anyone for any reason. You are completely anonymous to us.

We believe your privacy is just as important, possibly more important, than your safety.

• Install Cryptonite for Chrome
• Install Cryptonite for Firefox

☞ **Please tap or click “**👏” on the left side of the screen to let Paul and others know that you appreciated this post. We would like to see Crypto communities and other stakeholders promote these add-ons in order to help protect more people from phishing scams. Please share this post with your friends and colleagues on Twitter and inside your communities.

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