Paypal Advises Users To Stop Using Safari

eldavojohn writes "Over concerns for lack of an anti-phishing mechanism for Safari, Paypal is telling its Mac users to use another browser. An author from Ars Technica reveals that he has been using Camino and has fallen victim to a Paypal related phishing scam via e-mail so this story must hit home for him. 'Currently the Apple browser does not alert users to sites that could be phishing for your info, and it lacks support for Extended Validation. PayPal is, of course, a popular site among phishers in their neverending search for personal information, user IDs, and passwords. While it's not entirely fair singling out Safari (other Mac browsers like Camino also lack this support), it is perhaps at least a helpful reminder of the threat.'"

Comments

Maybe Apple should...

[gillbates]

Tell Safari users to stop using PayPal...

Re:Maybe Apple should...

[Jeremiah Cornelius]

C'mon.

Apple is deficient here - no doubt about it. If you want Mom & Pop to click "pay now", you don't expect 'em to be able to parse "http://www.barclays.validation.co.uk". You don't have to be an "idiot" to fall for this - just outside your area of expertise.

I have replaced Safari with FireFox on every friend and family mac I get my hands on. Re-theme it, copy and paste the icon resource, and they don't notice the change!

Except for the missing ads - thanks to Ad Block+

Re:Maybe Apple should...

[MacDork]

C'mon.

Apple is deficient here - no doubt about it.

Deficient eh? I use Omniweb. Same issues I'm sure, but I'm comfortable with it. I have something I feel is far more secure than a colored URL bar and Extended Validation box that begs for attention... I have an encrypted system wide keychain that is not going to have a username/password for paypa|.com. I might not catch that pipe as a lower case L... I my not catch a cyrillic character that looks just like an 'a' in there, but my keychain aware browser certainly will. It won't have a password for that domain, and that will instantly alert me to the fact that something is fishy. Proceed to open a new window and manually enter the address as a test... I rely on my keychain so much, I generally don't know the password for most websites I use, so I therefore cannot be suckered into revealing it. I'm sure Safari can be configured the same way.

Instead of railing on Apple for not adopting the technologically deficient solution of other browser makers, perhaps they should instead focus on what is IMHO a superior approach to security... No dice on Windows Safari, sure, but on the Mac I have no fear of phishers.

Re:Maybe Apple should...

[Anonymous Coward]

What theme do you recommend as the most "mac-like" and minimalist in screen real estate?

Please - that's like asking for "the most Windows-like and stylish".

Minimalist use of screen real estate is not a Mac virtue: Apple's principle is that screen real estate should be used well, not minimally. That's why they've made a big deal out of having bigger icons than Windows, for example, even though that means the Dock takes up about three times as much screen real estate as Windows' taskbar. Big icons = easier to hit = more efficient for the user. You aren't wasting that space, you're trading it for your time. And I assure you, unless you flip burgers or something then your time is valuable enough that you can certainly justify buying a bigger screen if you really need more working space.

(Incidentally, I do rather wonder why, with modern Macs all having wide-aspect monitors, the default Dock position is still along the bottom of the screen, and why windows still have their toolbars along the top rather than down the side, but those are whole other cans of worms...)

Re:Maybe Apple should...

[Anonymous Coward]

So why is closing a Mac window harder than threading a needle? And with the close button so small, why do standard dialogs generally lack an "OK" or "Close" button, with the expectation that we use those itty-bitty buttons way up in the corner?

Why does Microsoft Windows have such big titlebars and buttons on all windows? Why does it always have these unnecessary 'ok' 'close' buttons everywhere? Why doesn't it have fast, easy keyboard shortcuts for most tasks?

Actually, the huge, hunking graphics in Windows is as good enough reason as any to avoid it.

Re:Maybe Apple should...

[theurge14]

Minimalist use of screen real estate is not a Mac virtue:

Big icons is your only example of this? On the contrary:

* The 'Maximize' button will only open the app window as large as the content inside of it requires, it will not fill the screen.
* One menu bar along the top for all open windows ensures no screen space is wasted with repeated displays of a menu bar.
* Mac OS X automatically resizes dialog boxes to accommodate the content inside of them.
* Dialog boxes that open off the edge of the screen will be automatically moved back into the screen along with the rest of the app, and when closed the OS will shift the app back where it was before you opened the dialog box.
* Most apps do not have a 'background' window as to allow interaction with the desktop while the app is open. One common example is Photoshop.

Most Windows users I observe maximize all their open apps to completely cover the desktop and use the Start bar as a full-screen task-switcher. In other words, a multi-tasking MS-DOS.

here phishie phishie

[themushroom]

Look, if you're not checking what's in the URL of your browser, or are in the habit of clicking on links in email blindly, you get the phishing you deserve. The best protection mechanism in any browser against phishing is your eyes, looking at the address bar.

snark: And Safari users are advised to stop using PayPal.

Re:here phishie phishie

[Niten]

Look, if you're not checking what's in the URL of your browser, or are in the habit of clicking on links in email blindly, you get the phishing you deserve.

I'm all for exercising personal responsibility, but I'd never argue that anybody 'deserves' to fall victim to a phishing scam.

The fact of the matter is that there are some people (my grandparents, for example) who like to use the Web, but who are perhaps just a little bit senile and might one day fall for this sort of thing. If even an Ars Technica writer can fall for it, how can we expect an 80+ year-old to constantly exercise due vigilance?

I'm actually quite OK with this PayPal advisory: the kind of people who will act upon it -- computing amateurs, basically -- probably should be using a browser that raises a big fat red flag when it hits a known scam site, and I'd recommend that such people use Firefox, Opera, or even IE 7 rather than Safari. The rest of us, those who are clueful enough to know how to protect themselves, aren't really the ones that PayPal is addressing here.

Phishing protection? Really?

[SanityInAnarchy]

The kinds of people who fall for phishing scams aren't likely to pay attention to what PayPal advises them to do.

So why not cut the middleman and just advise them to not fall for phishing scams -- that is, to always verify https://www.paypal.com/ in the URL?

Oh, stop whining.

[Whiney Mac Fanboy]

All Paypal did was have a faq containing a list of anti-phishing features & browsers that support those features.

They don't recommend against Safari, they just recommend browsers that support anti-phishing features.

No doubt when Apple gets around to adding these features (pity Safari's not OSS, or it could be added easily by third parties), PayPal will add them to the list.

Re:How good Ars Technica writers at tech and revie

[Niten]

I'm very happy for you, that you've never made a single careless mistake in your life. However, please do try to have a little mercy on those of us who are merely human, especially when we're honest enough to admit it.

Re:OpenDNS to the rescue

[karmatic]

OpenDNS monitors Phising sites and will not let you resolve to it.
That's assuming, of course, that it's using a unique DNS name. For pages hosted on SourceForge, Geocities, etc. it won't do anything at all, and may provide a false sense of security.

Furthermore, it's really easy to create phishing pages that will only show their contents to humans, and not spiders.

Use IE? One problem...

[Myrkridian42]

There is *NO* Internet Explorer for Mac!

Microsoft stopped making (and supporting) IE for Mac in 2003. See for yourself.

Re:Every browser has and anti-phishing mechanism

[mikael_j]

But DNS cache poisoning isn't really a browser issue, is it? (although I suppose a browser exploit could be used to pollute the local DNS cache on a user's machine)

/Mikael

Questionable Motives

[sofla]

I have my doubts about this whole story. I question Barrett's motives. For the simple reason that the only way to find out that Paypal doesn't like Safari is to read the InfoWorld article and his quote. If you login to Paypal using Safari... nothing. Not a peep. No mail in your inbox, either. Seems to me that if Paypal really felt strongly about Safari they'd do a little more than that. But they don't. All we have is Barrett's quote. Which makes me wonder he's really after. And to me, the most plausible thing, is that as an EV early adopter, he's evangelizing how great EV is. Or maybe he has MSFT stock. Dunno. At any rate, if the user isn't looking at the URL bar in the first place, I don't know what difference it would make if it was green or not.

And don't even get me started on how effective I think the whole "keep a list of the bad guys" approach is.

Re:How good Ars Technica writers at tech and revie

[pandrijeczko]

I've been into computers for 25-odd years, I'm Linux and Windows certified, I program in shell, Perl & C & I work as a security consultant...

...and 3 months ago even I fell for a Paypal phishing scam where I handed over my username, password and account details.

Fortunately, I realised what had happened within a few minutes, immediately changed my Paypal password and cancel my bank card. I also reported the site to Paypal where it was taken down within an hour. As a result, I've not had any problems between then and now.

Yes, it's all about attention, I agree - but it just takes a lapse in concentration to fall for one of these scams.

Oh, and before it happened to me, I, like you, was mouthing off on Slashdot about how it could never happen to me also...