PayPal to Fight Phishers by Blocking Outdated Browsers

I doubt it will take many people by surprise to learn that PayPal and eBay are two of most popular sites vulnerable to phishing attacks, and even though it might not be evident, both have been taking that fact seriously. Recently, PayPal has put forth a plan to ban certain browsers from accessing the site due to their lack of anti-phishing features. Though most of the browsers are outdated, Apple’s Safari is looking to be a notable current browser to be banned – at least until it includes anti-phishing protection.

The sad reality is, though, that this added protection will only affect those who regularly visit PayPal or eBay, because that’s the only way someone will find out about a browser incompatibility. If a user doesn’t visit either site and receives a phishing e-mail, nothing stops them from clicking it. The ideal scenario is that a user will visit either site, see the warning and then proceed to upgrade to a different browser. Then from that point forward, they’d be less likely to fall for a phishing attack.

This is a fantastic move and one that should have been implemented a bit sooner. However, once in place, it should better prevent poor saps from falling into these attacks. PayPal boasts that over the previous two years, their efforts have resulted in far less phishing e-mails being sent out, so we can only hope this latest step will further push them towards nothingness.

Third-tier browsers are the only browsers that would be blocked from accessing PayPal altogether. Again, PayPal is light on the details, though the company does state that both Internet Explorer 3 and IE 4 fall into this category. The most surprising part of the company’s presentation, in fact, may have been its revelation that some PayPal users are actually still using IE 3 at all.

Source: Ars Technica