[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.
Unfortunately, anywhere that there is money there will be malicious actors looking to take advantage of others for their own gain. It is extremely common for experienced NFT collectors and brand new ones alike to lose some or all of their assets in a scam. The scams have increased in quantity and complexity as the community has grown. These scams not only limit our growth potential, but also push experienced community members away.
The SecurityBot Discord bot is already used in over 85 NFT communities and has prevented thousands of scammers from stealing ADA from legitimate community members. Because of this, scammers have begun resorting to creating phishing websites in order to continue stealing ADA and assets. We’ve already seen the massive impact of these phishing sites on other blockchain communities, and we have to get ahead of these scammers here in the Cardano community.
Our chrome extension will prevent these scams. We plan to develop this chrome extension in stages, with later stages coming after the chrome extension is already protecting the community. For this stage, we will:
- Create a chrome extension that compares a database of known safe domains to the currently visited site and notify the user if the current domain is suspiciously similar to a safe domain.
- Mint all phishing links found under a policy ID on the blockchain to ensure the entire community can benefit from this tool
In future stages (not covered in this proposal), we will decentralize this process, to uphold the Cardano values and ensure security and integrity of the process. We plan to create a DAO to allow the community to vote on safe and dangerous links, decentralizing the entire process.
[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.
This tool will help improve the Cardano ecosystem by increasing safety and trustworthiness. Scam prevention is a necessary focus not only to maintain the current community, but also to continue growth and expansion.
[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?
There are very few risks that would prevent the completion of this project. The most challenging part of this stage is ensuring that legitimate sites don’t cause alerts while not allowing phishing sites to get through. We will mitigate that risk through constant testing and iterating on our algorithm.
[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.
The development of this chrome extension will take a few phases:
- Research: Research phishing sites, modify and implement an algorithm to detect phishing domains, design the on-chain elements of this project.
- Development: Code the chrome extension and setup a node with APIs to automatically mint the dangerous domains
- Testing: Release a closed-beta version for testing to a handful of community members. Analyze their experiences and improve the product.
- Public access: Finally, release the tool for public use. Iterate on existing versions to continue to improve the experience while also working on the following stages of this project (decentralization)
[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.
Research: $5,000 - This includes selecting an algorithm and iterating upon it to fit our needs
Blockchain Development: $10,000 - This includes the cost of a blockchain developer to create the node with auto minting, the APIs required, and any documentation needed
Full Stack Development: $15,000 - This includes the cost of developing the chrome extension, the backend infrastructure needed, and any documentation needed
Branding and Marketing: $12,500 - Marketing is needed for this tool as it will greatly benefit from the network effect, improving the tool for everyone using it
Various (Server costs, data storage): $7,500 - This includes all servers and data storage needed for this tool
[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.
The team is made up of two very experienced developers:
JSHy - Software Engineer at jpg.store, developer of SecurityBot
Zhaata - Blockchain Developer at jpg.store, co-founder of CNFTJungle, well known minter
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[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.
We do not anticipate needing any more funding. Following stages (decentralization) can be done without funding.
[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project’s progress, and how will you measure these?
We will track progress of this tool with two main metrics: total users and number of dangerous websites caught. Total user numbers will show us that people feel the need to use this tool while the change of users over time will indicate whether or not our development and marketing is successful. The number of dangerous websites caught will indicate whether or not the tool is functioning as expected and operating at the highest level it can. Along with that, it is important to keep an eye on the number of safe websites misidentified, allowing us to continue to make algorithm improvements and updates.
[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?
Success for this project would be protecting a large number of community members from dangerous websites. Users will feel more safe when browsing web3 in general and Cardano specific websites.
[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.
This proposal is an entirely new proposal.