Slashdot Mirror
Online Banking Customers Migrating To Lynx
Jibbler writes "Following the recent Pwn2Own competition, in which Firefox, IE8 and Safari all fell quickly to exploits, Netcraft has observed a surge in popularity of the text-based Lynx browser. Netcraft points out that Lynx supports the latest cryptographic ciphers, and at least one online banking site has seen Lynx usage overtake that of Internet Explorer and Firefox. To boost Lynx's excellent security history, Netcraft has even developed a version of its anti-phishing toolbar for Lynx."
Nothing beats old school! Zero problems whatsoever, system has a failsafe - it simply chokes and kicks out GuruMeditation error screen any time any script of Flash tries to run. Been virus free since the SCA virus in 1987!
I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own.
I was pleasantly surprised a few years ago when I noticed that HSBC support Links for their online banking service (at least in the UK). A quick check confirms they still do.
I wish I could say the same for NatWest and I don't know about other UK banks.
There is a lot to be said for a text-only, script-immune interface. And whilst nobody could say that Links is impervious to attack, it's obviously not going to be on the radar of most cross-site/browser-exploiting evil doers.
I am sorry that you find the annual foolery un-funny. I typically find portions of the April Fools Day slashdottery humorous, and other parts tedious. This particular bit got a chuckle today.
Perhaps you should consider altering your browsing habits on this one, entirely predictable, date. That way, you won't be tempted to bring down anyone else's enjoyment of the holiday.
--AC
I miss the old days when the web was all text, and if you wanted to see an image you downloaded it and opened it in a separate image viewing app. At least then you knew that web authors (for such they were in those days) were at least trying to focus on content. But alas, the days of content are long gone.
Death looks every man in the face. All any man can do is look back and smile. - Marcus Aurelius
This is from last week.
We have a bunch of linux boxes in the lab, for automated testing stuff. One of my coworkers, with a masters' degree in electrical engineering, was setting up a test system and I being the resident expert on writing the ATE programs, went back to help him. All we had was a crummy old 13" monitor, but that's fine: it'll save space. Unfortunately that resolution isn't handled gracefully by the system, so xwindows wouldn't start. That's fine: I do all my work from the shell anyway. It's all scripting. So I'm trying to get this monster HP power supply to turn on, and it won't do a thing; it must have a different GPIB command. So I fired up lynx and went to google to find out what.
My coworker is all "what's *that*?"
I blinked and said "lynx."
"You can look at google text-only?"
"Well, yeah..."
"WHY? Why would anyone make a text-only browser? What's the point of THAT?"
I pointed at the screen, where a kindly webpage had a nice text summary of GPIB commands that showed me how to set the power supply output voltage and turn it on.
He said something like "yeah, but..." and then shut up.
Nostalgia's not what it used to be.
Oh c'mon..this happens every year...just have fun with it. No need to be a crumugen.
Hell...I long for a repeat of the one from years back with the "OMG..PoNies!!!"
Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.........
I actually use LYNX to access my bank accounts!