Not a week goes by without hearing about a hack of a platform, a discord server or some project. Often these hacks have one thing in common: a user clicking on a link or validating and signing a transaction without even reading it. Metamask updates its application to help you.
The fox wallet plays it safe
Metamask, which is today one of the most famous web wallets, and certainly the most used, can’t block transactions for you. But it can alert you to the fact that what you are about to approve can, potentially, represent a very big risk.
NFTs are to 2022 what DeFi was to 2021. The word is everywhere, every day millions of dollars are exchanged for small images, beautiful or ugly, expensive or not. And every day, millions of dollars are stolen via security breaches or fraudulent projects, to which the user has given rights without even knowing it.
Metamask, which is mostly used to validate these transactions, has therefore decided to focus on prevention, with the aim of helping users not to validate anything that could be dangerous.
An update to raise awareness, but it’s up to you to stay safe
That’s why now the transactions of type “Set Approval for all”, which can be translated as “Give approval for all” are marked in bold so that the information “clicks” in the user’s head.
Indeed with this type of approval, you authorize the smart contract that asks you for access, to come and help itself in your wallet. Either immediately, or when it wants to, because most users do not revoke the authorizations given.
Of course, this update will not prevent your wallet from being siphoned, but the fact that your attention is drawn, and especially that you can understand what you are going to assign as rights is a real step forward towards security.
Metamask initiates the process, let’s hope that others will follow, and that wallet and platforms will continue to evolve in this direction so that you, us, are aware of what we risk by accepting a transaction.
Security is an important thing, and unfortunately, it is often taken lightly. The best way to protect yourself from a theft or a scam is to be trained and informed. The more the user masters what he does, validates, uses, and the less the risks are high.
