PayPal to Ban Unsafe Browsers - Twenty-Four Seven Security

« How Microsoft Views the Future of Security | Main | Stemming Cybercriminal Cash Flow »

April 18, 2008
PayPal to Ban Unsafe Browsers

In what I find is a very interesting decision (leave it to the financial sites to lead the way for cutting edge security), Paypal has announced that it will start banning unsafe browsers, saying that allowing customers to continue making online transaction with unsafe browsers "is equal to a car manufacturer allowing drivers to buy one of their vehicles without seat belts."

According to eWeek, Paypal, which is one of most often imitated sites in phishing attacks, is in the process of blacking any transaction using a Web browser that doesn't have anti-phishing protection.

PayPal, one of the brands most spoofed in phishing attacks, is working on a plan to block its users from making transactions from Web browsers that don't provide anti-phishing protection. PayPal, which is eBay owned, said that they will no longer support browsers that do not have blocking for identity theft-related Web sites or use EV SSL (Extended Validation Secure Sockets Layer) certificates.

In a white paper that details the five-pronged plan, PayPal specifically mentioned a specific group of customers who continue to use old and 'unsafe' browsers. "At PayPal, we are in the process of reimplementing controls which will first warn our customers when logging in to PayPal of those browsers that we consider unsafe. Later, we plan on blocking customers from accessing the site from the most unsafe—usually the oldest—browsers," he declared.

Among the 'unsafe' browsers mentioned were old and no-longer-supported versions of Internet Explorers, as well as Apple's Safari browers, which has no anti-phishing protection, and does not support EV SSL certificates. And while EV SSL certificate is not completely fail safe, PayPal believes it does offer a fairly easy and quick safe and unsafe site visual when surfing sites on the Web (and would likely be improved upon). In a separate announcement, both Firefox and Opera browsers have announced their intention to start supporting EV SSL.

Now let's hope PayPal doesn't start banning people that continually make tacky purchases on eBay. Which reminds me, I wonder how much that purple Elvis Lava Lamp is selling for now?