Apple + Security & Privacy

Michael Barrett, PayPal’s chief information security officer, has come out and lambasted Safari’s security, as reported by Macworld UK. Barrett recommends that PayPal customers use other browsers because Safari has no built-in anti-phishing protection. “Safari has got nothing in terms of security support, only SSL (Secure Sockets Layer encryption), that’s it,” said Barrett, claiming that other browsers – notably Internet Explorer and Firefox – protect surfers more from phishing.

Interestingly, Barrett looks at browsers at being the problem, whereas phishing is more of an e-mail problem (though phishing sites may link from other web sites). Most users who get caught by phishing scams do so because of e-mails they receive purporting to be from such companies as PayPal, Amazon, eBay or banks. Intego Personal Antispam protects users against phishing e-mails by detecting those messages whose links contain one visible address and a different hidden URL. Personal Antispam files these messages into a user’s Spam folder, so they can know that the messages are suspect.

Nevertheless, users should always look at the URLs in their browser’s address bar when visiting sites that ask for personal information such as their credit card numbers, or even their user names and passwords.