The hottest new gadget on the market is the iPhone, from Apple, released in the US in late June. However there are various reports suggesting that the iPhone may have security flaws.
According to Phillip Dunkelberger, a former Apple employee and now president of the encryption firm PGP Corporation, the computing power of the iPhone is so great that it will be almost impossible to protect completely.
So the iPhone is basically a computer with communications built in. Thus, we should expect in the new device all the problems — viruses, worms, spyware, etc — we associate with our PCs. There are numerous reports telling of various glitches with the iPhones security. Since a huge number of people are using the iPhone to access the internet and also to store personal data on their new phone, this could be problematic for users
It has been discovered that all of the phones software runs at root level, meaning that an errant programme has unfettered access to everything in the phone.
Ken Dulaney of Gartner has publicised three known chinks in the iPhone’s armour. These are an unsecured e-mail system, the absence of firewall protection and the non-availability of software through which the phone can be disabled if its owner loses it.
Three researchers who are part of a firm called Independent Security Evaluators claim that they have found a method of securing wireless access to any or all files, stored on an iPhone, including personally identifiable information. These investigators do admit that Apple have built a reasonably secure protocol, however they feel that once security is breached an attacker can gain total control of the whole system.
One of the advertised functions of the phones Safari browser is that it can automatically dial numbers from web pages. A researcher recently outlined possible security flaws, and users of the iPhone are being advised to avoid using this function until a fix has been issued.
Other potential consequences of the security vulnerability include cross-site scripting attacks, tracking a user’s phone activity and if hackers do get control of the iPhone, they could use it to dial expensive phone lines and run up service charges or render the iPhone useless.
However similar avenues for attack have been found in other smartphones, and there is normally little danger to users.
Apple do seem to be keeping on top of these security concerns and have already issued a patch for one. They have announced that they are going to do as much testing as they can to make sure that the iPhone is as secure as possible.
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