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salimshahzad 01-10-2010 03:32 AM

Firefox and online banking
 
dear all

MAJOR DRAW BACK. most of financial,java based application over web like banking portals never work with firefox or any other browser. they always demand for IE6,7,8 to make safe bank browsing. as they do hard coding when they recognize it is firefox,chorme. so you cant open portals of banks. similary aspx/microsoft based website encounter similar issues. like if you go downloading site etc

suggest comments, some solution alternate should come for it

kind regards
salim

gotfw 01-10-2010 04:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by salimshahzad (Post 3820912)
dear all

MAJOR DRAW BACK. most of financial,java based application over web like banking portals never work with firefox or any other browser. they always demand for IE6,7,8 to make safe bank browsing. as they do hard coding when they recognize it is firefox,chorme. so you cant open portals of banks. similary aspx/microsoft based website encounter similar issues. like if you go downloading site etc

suggest comments, some solution alternate should come for it

kind regards
salim

Change banks and find a better online broker? Recent versions of Firefox and Java work fine for me for banking. Some minor inconveniences with the latter w.r.t. fonts because lame MS based Java developers seem to oftentimes deem it unnecessary test and validate their stuff on other platforms, but nothing show stopper.

smeezekitty 01-10-2010 12:41 PM

Change user agent.
That proves the banks are not the brightest in the world because FF is more secure then IE!
+ 20% use == big percentage cut out.

AnanthaP 01-10-2010 06:03 PM

Practically, its not easy to just change banks or user agents, particularly if you dont know what type of portal the new bank has.

Where I come from (India) a bank is likely to have thousands of branches all over India and your average bank staff or manager will have no more idea about the specifics of their portal than say about enzymes or something equally esoteric.

So what does a guy do?

An easy option seems to be to use a net cafe or "browsing centre" as it is called, but since you wouldn't know what bots are running and puling your sensitive data, this would be an insecure option.

An option - if available in your area - would be to use "mobile banking" ie. secure banking through your cell phone after identifying your specific needs (no portal but specific services).

On the whole you might have to go in for dual boot.

End

aysiu 01-10-2010 06:28 PM

Sure, it's not easy to change banks, but if a bank doesn't support you, you shouldn't support it.

I've changed banks before. It's not like climbing Mount Everest. You tell them you want to close your account. You show them the proper ID and enter your pin code. They try to plead with you to stay. You tell them you don't want to (you can, if you want, tell them specifically it's because their website doesn't support your web browser or operating system). They give you want remaining balance you have.

Then you got to a new bank (one whose website supports your browser and/or OS). You ask to set up an account.

If you have any direct deposit set up, fill out a new direct deposit form for the new bank.

There you go. Again, not an easy process, but not too difficult either.

GrapefruiTgirl 01-10-2010 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aysiu (Post 3821827)
Sure, it's not easy to change banks, but if a bank doesn't support you, you shouldn't support it.

I've changed banks before. It's not like climbing Mount Everest. You tell them you want to close your account. You show them the proper ID and enter your pin code. They try to plead with you to stay. You tell them you don't want to (you can, if you want, tell them specifically it's because their website doesn't support your web browser or operating system). They give you want remaining balance you have.

Then you got to a new bank (one whose website supports your browser and/or OS). You ask to set up an account.

If you have any direct deposit set up, fill out a new direct deposit form for the new bank.

There you go. Again, not an easy process, but not too difficult either.

I agree in principle, which in this case is enough for me: all banks, ANY banks, get SO much of our money (by means of extortion, fees, their-share-of-the-interest-we-make, whatever..) that they can easily afford the geeks needed to make their online services accessible to all. And if they can't be bothered, then I agree -- switch banks, on principle if nothing else.

Sasha

cantab 01-10-2010 07:14 PM

My bank's website works just fine in Firefox on Linux. It doesn't use any java nonsense, just plain old https, reliable and secure.

You could try making your browser lie about what it is to the banking site. But don't be surprised if you encounter bugs.

pixellany 01-10-2010 07:57 PM

Most financial institutions that I deal with work just fine with Firefox. (There was of course the Bank of America saga---posted here at LQ if you want to search for it.)

If something does not work with Firefox, call the webmaster/tech. support. (Politely) explain your observations/problems. If they say they do not support Firefox, tell them (politely) that it is at ~20 market share and ask when they plan to start supporting it. I have had some success getting people to fix their sites, but you have to lean on them.

smeezekitty 01-10-2010 09:27 PM

@pixellany
+1

jschiwal 01-10-2010 09:39 PM

According to Brian Krebbs of the Washington Post, you should only do your banking using a Live Linux Distro.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sec...e_bank_on.html

Even two factor authentication can be defeated if your computer is compromised.

smeezekitty 01-10-2010 09:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jschiwal (Post 3821985)
According to Brian Krebbs of the Washington Post, you should only do your banking using a Live Linux Distro.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/sec...e_bank_on.html

Even two factor authentication can be defeated if your computer is compromised.

Thats certainly over the line, but the banks should not be blocking you from using FF because FF is actually more secure then M$'s crappy browser.

Blinker_Fluid 01-10-2010 11:46 PM

Both banks I use support Firefox... One of them even makes you register your computer (using one of 3 questions, like mothers maiden name) if you don't want to provide more info than just your password.

barboolian 01-11-2010 04:43 AM

My bank has no problem with Firefox. Anyway I thought Firefox had some way of impersonating MSIE (Monster Sucks Idiots Enslaver)


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