Warning issued over iPhone Wi-Fi risk

Platform brings new vulnerability.

By Carrie-Ann Skinner, PC Advisor
Published: 10:27 GMT, 16 June 08

IPhones are creating an increased security threat to businesses, especially when used with Wi-Fi networks, an Australian expert has warned.

Chris Gatford, senior security consultant at Pure Hacking, highlighted that the adoption by businesses of the iPhone will "elevate risk to a level never seen before."

"We're going to find a lot of executives using the iPhone's push email to combine their personal and business messages... combined with the ever-increasing use [on the iPhone] of Web 2.0 applications, there are a lot of vulnerabilities," Gatford said at the IDC SecurityVision conference in Sydney this week.

"Like it or not, there's about to be a whole lot more risks for a lot of organisations," he added.

Gatford identified the further increased risk when iPhones are used on Wi-Fi networks. "Wi-Fi spots aren't encrypted ... nor is a great amount of the information you receive from Web 2.0 applications."

Gatford also warned that as prices for data plans fall, Wi-Fi use will increase which in turn will "increase the vulnerability of the iPhone."

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Wyseguy | Published: 15:43 GMT, 16 June 2008

So how exactly is the iPhone unique in this? Don't all laptops and smartphones with WiFi have the same risks? The new iPhone 2.0 software adds better VPN support, which should dramatically reduce the threat of wireless snooping. Sounds to me like this "senior security consultant" is just spouting things using the iPhone name to get attention. This isn't news.

Solarsculptor | Published: 15:39 GMT, 16 June 2008

I thought that Apple listed the Secrete Service as one of the organizations that was authorizing the Iphone. That seems good enough for me.

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