Back to homepage Sitemap | Careers | Contact |
Steak LondonSteak New YorkSteak Melbourne

Good for you, PayPal

21/04/2008 - posted under Web Technologies
by Duncan Parry

PayPal have decided to block old browsers as a security risk.

Good for them I say - the more users are warned about security risks, the better. To quote the Computing.co.uk article:

In a white paper, PayPal said that "letting users view the PayPal site on one of these browsers is equal to a car manufacturer allowing drivers to buy one of their vehicles without seatbelts".

Site visitors using old browsers may just seem like an oddity of the web. However, as PayPal have noted, they can be a threat to security - they have bugs that may leak the user's personal data (including passwords and credit card info).

I started to ask myself why users still have old browsers like IE3 and IE4 - and thought of all those old PCs donated to Africa. Do they still have old browsers, because newer versions are too resource-intensive? Probably. What will happen to these users if this becomes a common decision by security-conscious sites? Are there poorly-funded libraries with old PCs still using IE4 (a colleague just told me about one using IE 5.5 in Central London)?

I still feel that blocking old browsers is the right thing to do on sites requiring a high level of security (e.g banks) - but attention needs to be paid to older computers used in other countries, too.

Comments



 
Steak Limited 2005 - 2009 | Reg. Company No. 05349447 | Minute Steak
View most popular tags
mobile display recruitment steakmedia map digital display advertising word of mouth silverlight steak google analytics steak design twitter privacy policy reputation management display advertising revolution beringea pay-per-click campaign ppc trademarks aimia imaa consultancy iab google duncan parry media planning and buying display usability mobile search nma swiftcover covent garden accreditations ipa expertise insurance awards google trends enjoy england affiliates travolution awards house to home gap engine time thief virgin holidays seo flash omma awards shopping search mobile ask sempo john mccain web 2.0 steak cow parade marketing insight aol steak history jobs steakmedia.co.uk adwords oms 2008 matt clark steakmedia awards make your mark steak offices econsultancy online marketing show peter suchet board directors robert campbell web standards ppc imaa awards tracking steak bull insured risks online marketing consultants paid search jjb sports digital advertising mobile case studies pay-per-click pay-per-click case studies e-consultancy cost-per-aquisition retail british gas search facebook social media mobile marketing steakmedia.com.au marketing week effectiveness awards matches tourism oms marketing week yahoo multilingual search msn john lewis mortgages for professionals browsers search engine optimisation contact us steak map bruce thebull jjb ppc campaign steak media offices proven vcts timeout ugc startups awards steak media time out penny the cow ecommerce internet explorer travel enterprising young brits awards daily mail enterprise awards ga vinspired roi growing business awards digital direct enterpreneur utilities organic search design charity nma effectiveness awards mixx awards search marketing ollie bishop omma digital marketing consultants media agency of the year pay per click google website optimiser branding steak offices pay-per-click campaigns enterprising young brits brand republic accessibility steakmedia doubleclick natural search microsoft ima awards affiliate