Ethereum Foundation funds WEBCAT, a website code-integrity tool for journalists

The Ethereum Foundation's Trillion Dollar Security (1TS) initiative has granted funding to the Freedom of the Press Foundation (FPF) to continue developing WEBCAT — an open-source tool that lets browsers verify that code served by an enrolled website matches what its developers actually shipped.

WEBCAT solves a specific problem: if a website's server is compromised, an attacker can silently swap in malicious JavaScript and target specific users, with no outward sign anything is wrong. For platforms like SecureDrop, which the Freedom of the Press Foundation runs to accept material from anonymous sources and whistleblowers, that kind of attack would be a direct threat to both journalists and the people talking to them.

The mechanism rests on four parts: developers cryptographically sign their application code; signed versions are recorded in an immutable transparency log built on Sigsum infrastructure; the list of enrolled, trusted websites is managed through blockchain consensus built on CometBFT; and a browser extension checks loaded JavaScript against the signed, logged version before it runs. If the code doesn't match, the extension blocks execution and notifies the user, rather than silently letting a potentially malicious script through.

• WEBCAT was originally developed with Freedom of the Press Foundation support as a master's thesis project
• Code verification relies on cryptographic signatures, a transparency log, and CometBFT-based blockchain consensus
• The tool is intended as core security infrastructure for the next generation of the SecureDrop platform

The grant fits the broader logic of 1TS, the Ethereum Foundation's program aimed at systematically improving security across the ecosystem, from wallets to developer tooling. We previously covered how the Ethereum Foundation added a cybersecurity specialist to its board after a 40% budget cut, and rounded up a broader industry picture in our digest on how wallets came under fire while AI agents stopped following instructions. Backing WEBCAT shows the foundation is willing to fund security infrastructure well outside crypto products proper — cases where blockchain consensus and cryptographic transparency solve problems that matter to an audience far broader than ETH holders.

For the Freedom of the Press Foundation, the grant is primarily a chance to move WEBCAT from a research prototype into a production tool protecting real journalists and their sources, rather than an abstract demonstration that blockchain infrastructure has uses beyond finance.

None of this should be read as personalized investment advice.