Mac users are advised not to use Safari by Consumer Reports
According to this year’s State of the Net survey, Mac users fall prey to phishing scams at about the same rate as Windows users, yet far fewer of them protect themselves with an anti-phishing toolbar. To make matters worse, the browser of choice for most Mac users, Apple’s Safari, has no phishing protection. Consumer Reports says that until Apple beefs up Safari, users should use a browser with phishing protection, such as the latest version of Firefox or Opera. They also offer free anti-phishing toolbar such as McAfee Site Advisor or FirePhish.
This is not the first time Apple’s Safari has been criticized for lacking built-in phishing protection. Earlier this year, PayPal’s Chief Information Security Officer Michael Barrett, said that Apple, unfortunately, is lagging behind what they need to do, to protect their customers. Paypal recommended to use Internet Explorer 7 or 8 when it comes out, or Firefox 2 or Firefox 3, or Opera.
Presently, Safari is still not considered as “safe” by PayPal, where safer browser for them means one that has built-in phishing protection. However, it’s not new that browsers that are considerd “safe” are often using third-party plugins with much better functionality and configuration. Same approach can apply to Safari with the help of Phishtank.com’s database integration or through the Saft extension of Stopbadware’s database.
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