The Ethereum Foundation has awarded funding through its Trillion Dollar Security (1TS) initiative to the Freedom of the Press Foundation to expand development of WEBCAT, an open-source front-end verification tool designed to protect users from compromised websites.

According to a Wednesday statement, the grant will support bringing the technology directly into Ethereum wallets and decentralized applications, allowing wallets to verify that an application’s code matches a developer-signed version.

The foundation said the project addresses a major security weakness affecting browser-based applications. Although HTTPS secures website connections, it cannot detect whether malicious code has been injected into a site’s front end.

Such attacks can alter transaction details, replace recipient addresses, or manipulate what users are asked to sign. According to the foundation, WEBCAT prevents this by validating website code against signed release manifests and blocking pages that fail verification.

The grant also covers research into compatibility with Chromium-based browsers, assistance for developers implementing the technology, an independent security review, and development of a new Ethereum Request for Comments (ERC) standard for wallet integrations.

The foundation said WEBCAT complements its ongoing Clear Signing work by combining transaction transparency with front-end code verification.