 |
|
|
PayPal’s strategy of blocking
certain browsers, considered to be “unsafe” due to no anti-phishing features
doesn’t include Apple’s Safari it seems. The company sent an e-mail according
to which they have absolutely no intention of blocking Safari, or any other
browser, from their website, Computer
World reports.
Last week, in a paper
called “A Practical Approach to Managing Phishing” and signed by Michael
Barrett, Chief Information Security Officer and Dan Levy, Senior Director of
Risk Management for Europe, they said they have been working on solutions to
stop customers from losing money or be victimized by phishing attacks.
“We realized that our strategy was based on
preventing financial loss in the victim’s account,” said the two authors in the
paper. “We couldn’t eradicate the problem on our own – to make a dent in
phishing, it would take collaboration with the Internet industry, law
enforcement, and governments around the world."
Their strategy implied that
using browsers with no Extended Validation Certificates “is equal to a car
manufacturer allowing drivers to buy one of their vehicles without seatbelt,”
and these browsers need to be blocked.
The paper didn’t give any
browser names in the paper, except for Microsoft’s older versions of Internet
Explorer (3 and 4), but Safari’s lack of Extended Validation support made it a
possible candidate on PayPal’s list.
The company explained on Friday
that it is not working on blocking any browser, but rather on blocking
unfortunate combinations of browsers and OS: “PayPal is developing features to
block customers from logging into PayPal when using obsolete browsers on
outdated or unsupported operating systems,” a company spokeswoman said, as
quoted by Computer World. “An example of such a browser/OS combination might
be, for example, Internet Explorer 4 running on Windows 98.”
Approximately 3.3% of 124
million consumers became victims of phishing attacks last year, Gartner
estimates. Too many have fallen for e-mails asking for log-in credentials and
other personal information, which lead to all sorts of fraud, including
identity theft.
© 2007 - 2008 - eFluxMedia