ConsenSys exec on MetaMask Snaps security: ‘consent is king’

As malicious actors continue their attempts to steal users’ crypto assets, wallet provider MetaMask has developed a way to allow users to have more insights into the transactions and interactions within the application. 

In an interview with Cointelegraph, Francesco Andreoli, the head of the developer community at ConsenSys, spoke about how they ensure that the recently released MetaMask Snaps is secure for users. The executive highlighted the importance of consent and ensuring that users know each step of their journey across various chains and decentralized applications (DApps).

As a wallet that contains various users’ crypto assets, the security of MetaMask Snaps could potentially be a concern for users before trying out the new feature. However, Andreoli noted that user consent is one of their main priorities, and they have designed Snaps to provide full transparency around how each Snap interacts with the MetaMask wallet extension. 

He said the new update shows users more data points to give them more insights into their transactions. “So for security, one big category of our allow list is transaction insights. Basically, what is happening with transaction insights, is you really get more data points on what the extension does today,” Andreoli said.

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In his keynote presentation, Andreoli also demonstrated how one snap called Wallet Guard can help protect users from malicious transactions. Speaking with Cointelegraph, the executive further explained that before signing and approving transactions, users would be shown various information about what they are about to perform. He said:

“Basically, what is happening is that before you’re actually signing and approving a transaction, you will have different data points. Like if you are interacting with a malicious contract or if you have a specific interaction. This happens before you’re actually approving the transaction.”

He stressed users would be “fully conscious” of what is happening. According to Andreoli, this is a function to which they gave added attention as they developed MetaMask Snaps. 

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