PayPal thinks Safari is too vulnerable to phishing scams

Tue Mar 4, 2008 11:58PM EST

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Safari is quickly becoming a popular web browser thanks to the increased popularity of Apple computers, iPod Touch, and iPhone. Even a Windows version of the browser was released last year as a public beta, which may be boosting its popularity as well. But if you're a PayPal user, the company says you need to switch browsers.

Macworld says Safari didn't make PayPal's list of recommended browsers because the web browser didn't have two important anti-phising security features. One feature Safari lacks is a built-in phishing filter that warns users of suspicious websites. The other security feature missing is the lack of support for Extended Validation (EV) certificates. In IE 7, this feature turns the address bar green when the browser visits a legitimate site.

PayPal's chief information security officer, Michael Barrett, said Safari has no security support at this time other than SSL (Secure Sockets Layer encryption), so the average consumer would be better off using Internet Explorer 7 (or 8 when it comes out), Firefox 2, Firefox 3, or Opera.

Whether your browser has good phising filters or not, there are a number of things you can do to prevent identity theft. Here are some phishing articles you might find helpful:

Related:

Safari 3 For Windows
Should You Make The Switch to Safari 3.0?

 

Comments on PayPal thinks Safari is too vulnerable to phishing scams

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  • 2 Posted by medylant on Thu Sep 3, 2009 7:14PM EDT Report Abuse

    eBay, who owns pp, is anti-Safari anyway.I sell on eBay so I use my nine year old G3 iMac because although eBay works fine with Safari for shopping, it is definitely not Safari-friendly for selling, although eBay personal will go miles out of their way to avoid admitting it, they do tell you to install Firefox or that Microsoft nightmare instead of Safari. So far Firefox has worked adequately for me but I have had too many severe problems with it in past to trust it with my good computer. I was loath to install it in my old one. Given eBay's attitude towards Safari, I am inclined to be suspicious of pp's opinion of Safari. pp is hardly a pillar of trustworthyness on the net and I have had far ore reasons not to trust them than I ever had with Safari.

  • 3 Posted by callieflowergirl on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:16PM EDT Report Abuse

    I think the headline for this article on the front page is VERY misleading. It should read "Why does Paypal think Safari is vulnerable". What a scare tactic. .. Shame on you Yahoo.

  • 4 Posted by djmerritt71 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 3:44PM EDT Report Abuse

    hahahahahahahhaha ok... how about that yahoo doesn't work with safari. that's bigger tech news than paypal. paypal doesn't work on any browser and we've known that for years.

  • 5 Posted by ultra_wrx on Thu Sep 3, 2009 10:27PM EDT Report Abuse

    IE safer than safari... hmmm, let's really rethink this one. Googled: Results 1 - 100 of about 3,080,000 for internet explorer 7 vulnerabilities. (0.35 seconds) Results 1 - 100 of about 321,000 for safari vulnerabilities. (0.18 seconds) Results 1 - 100 of about 167,000 for safari 3 vulnerabilities. (0.42 seconds) From this non-scientific and very crude Google search, we see ie7- that has not been around as long as Safari - has 10X (roughly 2,759,000 more results) more vulnerability results! And to more appropriately compare apples to crapples - Safari 3 only had 167,000 results - almost 3,000,000 less than ie7. Hmmm - 3 million more people, links, posts collectively complaining/talking/discussing ie7 vulnerabilities. I'll sum it up in a word: WOW! Next we will hear that unix/linux os's are more vulnerable to virii!!! Seriously, sounds like the pp crew need to implement mandatory drug testing.

  • 6 Posted by asvlasek on Thu Sep 3, 2009 2:58PM EDT Report Abuse

    Internet Explorer is one big phish hook in an .exe. I have never gotten a virus on a mac in 5 years in those 5 years also using a PC there was never one year I didn't get one or get a browser infection. Never on Safari. The only thing I have ever had happen is my password was phised on myspace which I am positive is the fault of power website programming on mypace's side. Paypal and many people are uneducated about the real issues that are out there. That said Apple has room for improvement but some of what make Safari safe is that it lacks certain functionality why build more room for error.

  • 7 Posted by red_lagoon85 on Thu Sep 3, 2009 8:35PM EDT Report Abuse

    WHAT EVER. SUCH A LIE. SAFARI IS MUCH MUCH SAFER THAN ANY OTHER BROWSER. IE HAS SO MANY VIRUSES. LIES LIES LIES. STUPID ARTICLE

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