Etherscan launches ETHProtect to track down fraudulent transfers

          Every Transaction Hash Protection (ETHProtect) is a recent feature released by a well-known blockchain explorer, Etherscan. This is a detection system designed to resolve numerous reports from their users regarding affected wallet addresses from hacking incidents mostly in exchanges, phishing sites, suspicious or fraudulent transfers to be verified by Etherscan’s security research analysts.

What is the process?

          As stated in their update, every incoming fund will be traced down from its origin to identify and label the transaction in its database once detected fraud. Most of these cases are performed by identifying transfers coming from illegal and suspicious activities labeled as the origin of a tainted address. This is possible with the use of the Taint Inference Analysis Engine which uses AI inside frameworks to track and distinguish compromised funds based on a reported incident.

How to determine a tainted address?

• First, reporting is essential whenever an attack or fraud occurs. For instance, this website released an advisory and reported to Etherscan to trace the said fraudulent activity.
  
  

  
  

  Photo source: https://upbit.com/service_center/notice?id=1085

  
  

• Secondly, upon checking the reported “wallet address” on Etherscan’s website, a blinking red shield alert is noticeable on top right signifying that the address in the search is compromised. A warning notice is also displayed to label the incident report.
  
  

• Lastly, upon verifying the given address, their security research analyst will label the address and they will start to trace the origin of the transaction and where it ends. A status will be displayed on this page by clicking the red shield alert mentioned above. Any verified tainted Eth wallet addresses found to be connected with fraudulent activities will be tracked and added into Etherscan’s database for further investigation. For transparency, it will show the tainted transaction hash, the address used by the original source of transfer, depth level or the number of more tainted addresses used in multiple transfers before it reached the ending taint address. The analysis finally shows detailed information of the final transfer that includes the address, block number, timestamp, total amount of funds transferred.
  
  

          This new feature sounds very important, as you can first check on the address you are sending to, and if receiving from someone’s address is tainted or not with a real-time result. This way, every user can be more vigilant and can observe safety precautions in dealing with such transfers.

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