Shockingly Secure (don't be fooled by the good UX!)
Silk radically improves onboarding, not only on UI but on security and decentralization.
It is difficult to objectively discuss security of software without formalizing the security issues to prevent. Step one is to list common threats which can harm wallet users:
Common Threats
Compromised or malicious dApp
Compromised user device
Compromised wallet company's server
Compromised DNS
Compromised login credentials (e.g. password, passkey, or oauth)
Compromised recovery credentials (e.g. hacked iCloud or faked government ID)
Compromised wallet code without kill switch or safety mechanism (i.e. does this cause complete compromise or is damage reduced because mechanisms are present to reduce the damage)
Audits aren't everything. Notably, internal decisions of the wallet company decide 1-6, whereas auditors help with 7. Audits are crucial for security but should not be interpreted as implying 1-6 are covered!
How current wallets compare
Hardware wallets are not safe against 1 or 2, which are common attack vectors, due to blind signing attacks. While transaction simulation can mitigate the risk of 1 when using a hardware wallet, it cannot mitigate 2.
Multisignature wallets in theory are secure against all of these. However, in practice they are never secure against 3, 4, or 7, and often insecure against 2. Users use the same web UI across devices to suggest and simulate all transactions, causing a single point of failure that can be attacked by compromising a the multisig website's server or DNS record, or compromising the browsers of enough signers.
Browser extensions are heterogenous but typically vulnerable to 1, 2, 6, and 7.
Wallet as a service (WaaS) are typically vulnerable to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 (all of the above).
Silk
While no wallet can completely eliminate risk, Silk mitigates the risk of all of these threats significantly via a novel combination of 2PC, security innovations, and transaction simulation.
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