PayPal Warns Safari Browser Security Risk

PayPal warns users not to use Safari browser, because it has no built-in phishing filter to warn users when they are visiting suspicious Web sites. Safari also lacks support for Extended Validation (EV) certificates.

Safari is the default browser on Apple’s Macintosh computers and the iPhone. Current Safari 3 Public Beta version is also available on Microsoft Windows, too.

“I’d love to say that Safari was a safer browser, but at this point it isn’t,” said Michael Barrett, PayPal’s chief information security officer.

Barrett also warned that Safari has got nothing in terms of security support, only SSL (Secure Sockets Layer encryption), and he recommended users to switch to alternate browsers:

Apple, unfortunately, is lagging behind what they need to do, to protect their customers… Our recommendation at this point, to our customers, is to use Internet Explorer 7 or 8 when it comes out, or Firefox 2 or Firefox 3, or indeed Opera…

Only Microsoft’s IE7 supports Extended Validation Certificated. Upcoming versions of Firefox and Opera are expected to support the technology.

While Firefox continues to grow, the figures reveal that Internet Explorer is still by far the most dominant browser holding a 66.1% share of the worldwide market, as opposed to Firefox’s 28%. Of the remaining browsers, Opera fares best with a 3.3% share, while Safari trails with only 2%.