In a move which is sure to upset a vast number of internet users, PayPal has announced that they will not allow users to access their services using old version of IE or the Firefox Browser. They claim that the browsers that they are banning are “unsafe” and do not offer sufficient protection against “Phishing” sites.

While Phishing is becoming more of an issue as the fraudsters become ever more inventive in their ways of obtaining information, this is the first time that the new version of Firefox has been mentioned as potentially unsafe. There have been issues with Firefox in the past but after a security revamp it has quickly become one of the more popular alternatives to Internet Explorer and has taken a very large slice of the internet market in a relatively short space of time.

Even though there is nothing to stop PayPal offering access to their services via browsers of their choice, the fact that they have affectively deemed Firefox as unsafe will not go down very well with Mozilla who own the browser. It also as the potential to undermine the recent growth in the use of Firefox and many in the industry are expecting to see some kind of legal action because of the inference that the browser is not safe.

However, if you look at it from the point of view of PayPal they are only doing what they believe is right for their customers, many of whom have been “fleeced” by the Phishing fraudsters, although it is very often PayPal who are left to foot the bill. Perhaps this is PayPal’s way of protecting themselves from claims in the future? Perhaps this is their way of trying to dictate to the market?

Whatever reason they have behind this move it is surely not the last we have heard on the subject!