{"id":21893,"date":"2018-06-26T00:03:44","date_gmt":"2018-06-26T00:03:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ci027cfe6d600d2697"},"modified":"2018-06-26T00:03:44","modified_gmt":"2018-06-26T00:03:44","slug":"metacerts-newest-product-cryptonite-solves-twitters-scambot-problem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/business\/metacerts-newest-product-cryptonite-solves-twitters-scambot-problem","title":{"rendered":"MetaCert\u2019s Newest Product, Cryptonite, Solves Twitter\u2019s Scambot Problem"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Anti-fraud software company MetaCert<\/a> has a fix for the simplistic yet frequently effective rackets that have come to plague cryptocurrency\u2019s online communities: Twitter scams.<\/p>\n

Cryptonite<\/a>, as it\u2019s playfully dubbed, is MetaCert\u2019s solution to safeguard users from the fraudulent accounts that orchestrate fake giveaways under the guise of industry leaders. Typically, these accounts masquerade as the blockchain industry\u2019s high-profile individuals. Within the Twitter statuses of the individuals in question, these fraudsters mimic verified accounts with picture-perfect doppelg\u00e4ngers, advertising giveaways that ask users to send cryptocurrencies, usually bitcoin or ether, to an address to receive a larger sum in return.<\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve ever glanced a verified Twitter handle for a popular industry figure that reads \u201cNot giving ETH or BTC away,\u201d these schemes are the reason.<\/p>\n

Sometimes, these scams are easy to snuff out, especially if the individual being mimicked is verified by Twitter. But Twitter doesn\u2019t verify everyone, especially not in an industry still so niche as crypto. <\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you know the Twitter account is verified? How do you know it\u2019s not a fake account or a bot that\u2019s going to apply to legitimate messages in the crypto world?\u201d Paul Walsh, CEO of MetaCert, told Bitcoin Magazine<\/em> in an interview. \u201cThose are the kind of questions we\u2019re looking to answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

MetaCert\u2019s answer is Cryptonite, a panacea for the unscrupulous practices Twitter can\u2019t fend off on its own. As a browser ad-on, internet users can install Cryptonite on to Chrome, Firefox or Opera. Once active, Cryptonite will display a green shield for legitimate Twitter accounts to give users a green light for their authenticity. Fake accounts, on the other hand, will be blacklisted with a gray shield to warn users to stay away.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe built [Cryptonite] because it\u2019s impossible to stay on top of every phishing attack, because they happen so frequently,\u201d Walsh said in the interview. <\/p>\n

Cryptonite leverages similar verification techniques that MetaCert has already employed for its Slack and Telegram plug-ins. These integrations were built for the crypto community after Walsh was introduced to the financial losses unsuspecting retail investors had suffered via scam bots or phishing links. Like Cryptonite\u2019s preventative software, MetaCert monitors these groups and scans links and accounts to identify and bookmark bad actors to prevent potential foul play. <\/p>\n

While it immediately solves a widespread problem on Twitter, Cryptonite’s functionality isn’t confined to verifying Twitter handles and tweets. As MetaCert\u2019s multiple cybersecurity iterations demonstrate, Cryptonite\u2019s functionality could have far-reaching ramifications for any number of social media, websites and online applications.<\/p>\n

Going forward, the company will experiment to see if it can \u201cdecentralize the decision-making process\u201d to verify accounts.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no way in the world that MetaCert can validate all social media accounts and all bots and all apps \u2014 if you combined all the cybersecurity companies together you couldn\u2019t scale it across the entire internet,\u201d Walsh admitted in our interview.<\/p>\n

MetaCert’s attempt to “decentralize the decision-making process” launched last Wednesday, June 20, 2018, in the form of a private token sale. The idea behind the MetaCert ICO, Walsh explained, is to establish a distributed ecosystem of cyber watchdogs who will verify and upkeep MetaCert\u2019s database of authentic and fraudulent entities. <\/p>\n

META, the network\u2019s token, will be used as an incentives system to keep verifiers honest. Under this model, anyone can submit a suspicious link or identity to the network for scrutiny; once it is evaluated and the network\u2019s verifiers (cybersecurity professionals, white hats, etc.) reach a consensus regarding its status, its authenticity or fraudulence is broadcast to the blockchain for reference.<\/p>\n

If a company or person would like to have their wallet address, domain name or social media account verified, they will pay in tokens,\u201d Walsh explained in the interview. \u201cThe validators then get paid from this for doing the work.\u201d<\/p>\n

You don\u2019t, however, have to be the organization or business in question to submit links, profiles and applications for review. Walsh indicated that anyone can submit a request to the network; they just need to stake tokens to have it fulfilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf a person would like to submit domains, social media accounts, bots, apps or APIs for the purpose of classifying as phishing, malware, xxx, sports entertainment or one of the other 60 categories, they must stake some token before they submit. When the validators agree, everyone gets paid in tokens, including the submitter,\u201d he iterated.<\/p>\n

MetaCert is launching a token sale to realize such decentralized cyber surveillance, and MetaCert\u2019s suite of offerings have been guiding lights for the crypto community. But Walsh conveyed in the interview that MetaCert\u2019s software has relevance that extends far beyond the cryptocurrency realm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building a different version of the WHOIS database. But it\u2019s credible, verifiable, on the blockchain, and it\u2019s not just about domain names, but all web resources: social media accounts, websites, bots, apps and APIs,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n

MetaCert\u2019s protocols, he continued, can be integrated by search engines, social media and potentially even ISPs and Wi-Fi hotspots down the road. Under a decentralized ecosystem, this would mean an internet that\u2019s constantly policing content for malicious actors across every industry and every medium. <\/p>\n

This is Walsh\u2019s long-term goal. He claims that \u201cif you\u2019re in the crypto community, chances are, somewhere, you\u2019re being protected by MetaCert and you don\u2019t even know it.\u201d The next step means implementing MetaCert\u2019s cybersecurity services in every niche that might need them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI see a world where you feel safe opening a link. I believe in you being able to have the freedom of choice in an open web but giving you the tools to avoid the stuff you don\u2019t want to see. I see ours as the new security protocol for ISPs, Wi-Fi hotspot providers, the Wi-Fi router in your home or office, your browser \u2014 whatever it is that provides access to a URI, a source. I want them to integrate MetaCert. That\u2019s my vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about MetaCert and test its software, visit the company\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cryptonite is MetaCert\u2019s solution to safeguard users from the fraudulent Twitter accounts that orchestrate fake giveaways under the guise of cryptocurrency industry leaders.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3468,"featured_media":21894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1745,682],"class_list":{"0":"post-21893","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-scams","9":"tag-twitter"},"author_data":{"id":3468,"name":"Aaron Van Wirdum And Colin Harper","nicename":"aaron-van-wirdum-and-colin-harper","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/88b6c65a7515990786b1c04473e15469e5b0d0fffef947ed629a60854e1cb426?s=96&d=robohash&r=g"},"featured_image_url":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/metacerts-newest-product.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3468"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitcoinmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}