StupidScript - 12:45 am on Feb 3, 2005 (gmt 0)

There's definitely some programming junk in the Wells Fargo online banking section. It identifies my Opera 5.12 set to identify itself as MSIE 5.0 as Netscape 4.76. Hmmph. At least it recognizes Firefox 1.0 as Mozilla 1.7.5, and declares it to be useable.

Their statement about why they do this browser-limiting:

For your protection, Wells Fargo does not support beta versions of browsers. Under normal circumstances, Wells Fargo will support the final version of a browser shortly after the release date. Wells Fargo regularly monitors and tests browsers to ensure the highest security standards for our customers. For security reasons, certain versions of browsers occasionally "expire" their ability to perform sensitive transactions such as Internet banking or bill pay. In order to maintain its high degree of customer security, Wells Fargo does not allow access to accounts online using these browsers. To continue to access Wells Fargo accounts online, some customers will need to upgrade to a newer, supported version of their preferred browser. To provide our customers the most effective and secure online access to their accounts, we are continually upgrading our online services. As we add new features and enhancements to our service, there are certain browser versions, operating systems, and/or Internet devices including WebTV, which cannot support these changes. We recommend that you use a browser and operating system that is listed on the above Supported browser chart.

When acknowledging a supported browser, they state:

Your browser meets Wells Fargo's strict security standards, which employ some of the strongest encryption available over the Internet.

(It's nice that their standards employ strong encryption. I had thought that was something a browser did.)

So their issue seems to be primarily with encryption, and not how well the browser handles style sheets.

PS: I, too, am LMAO about the MSIE security breach comment, earlier. Given a 3 month minimum patch development time when they DO discover an exploit, you better get all your banking done at one time, because it may be awhile before it's safe to go back in the water! :)

Come to think of it, isn't the recommended "fix" for most of the recent MSIE exploits to "use a different browser"? I hope Wells Fargo pays attention, and kicks IE users when this type of exploit is discovered and that recommendation is made. After all, it's not a suspected security hole ... it's verified.