Discussion on:

10 ways to secure the Apple iPhone

I'm constantly using my iPhone as it's capable of doing much of the work my notebook does. Which means the iPhone is vulnerable to many of the same exploits that plague computers.

I've put 10 methods together that go a long way to securing the iPhone. Please check them out. If you have any more options, let me know.

The erase all data function could be abused by playful anti-iPhone colleagues, who pride themselves in guessing passcodes.

but I think 'a55holes' describes them better.

...and that's the "Find My iPhone" tool available to Apple's MobileMe members. You can use the MobileMe web site to locate your phone if you've left it somewhere.

Thankfully, the new Remote Wipe and Screen Message and Alert features in iPhone OS 3.0 work even without Location Services being turned on.

Turn off and disable all communication functions.

Better yet, have the Obama administration customize your device with federal resources.

That was one of the options that CIS offered. The iPhone has what is called Airplane Mode which shuts off all RF communications. I just didn't see the logic in that personally.

about the security and network functions. I will continue to gather information from TR and members like Michael. I can still manage my day with a simple cell phone and e-mail.

On a personal note, I don't like using my money on technology that needs further R&D because manufactures are pressed to go to market before the engineers sign off on functionality. We see this more often then not with both hardware and software. Now if my boss or client want to spend the dollars, I'm in!

Best way to secure the Iphone? Turn it off

Are there antivirus programs available for these phones? I have a Sprint Instinct phone, which is basically a copy-cat of the iPhone, with all the bells and whistles, and operates as my notebook. I have asked Sprint if they have Antivirus installed on their "servers" for this reason, and they guarantee that they do "UP TO A POINT", meaning - not at all.

Thank you,

Desi Rawson
IT Consultant

Great article, Michael - very informative, I'll be forwarding the link to my iphone-using friends.

Interesting that you compare its abilities to a full client, such as a proper web browser, along with the associated fallibilities. With great power comes great responsibility, eh?

Personally I've jailbroken mine, to allow third party apps. I have a SSH client on there, with full CLI access using MobileTerminal. Obviously the first thing I did was change passwords from default on both the root and mobile accounts. I also generated RSA keys and swapped public keys with the Mac I use at work to allow simple, secure comms.

Since connection via USB is only of any use when using iTunes (Apple created a proprietary communications protocol that prevents any machine actually seeing the iPhone as attached storage), I use STFP over port 22 to communicate with my phone. This allows me to swap data between it and any machine wirelessly and fairly easily, though Wi-fi isn't the fastest medium.

There is an app to allow wireless sharing via the AFP protocol - this lets the device show up in Finder. The only problem with using a GUI (as opposed to a terminal or FTP connection) to browse the device is that the filestructure, like OS X, uses symlinks at the top level, and I've experienced problems with the Users directory disappearing when I've tried to access it. This doesn't happen when using FTP or Terminal.

There are some other really useful third party apps I use regularly, which fully justify the act of jailbreaking the device for me. There's a rich, if dilettante, development community out there.

damn shame you need to think about such stuff for a bleeding phone. Where, oh where, can I find a phone that's just a phone and not some idiots fool's idea of a do everything electronic tool? Whatever happened to the idea of doing one thing extremely well instead of a lot of things poorly?

and complimentary devices like the iPod; I feel we can finally say Apple is just like Microsoft, in at least this phone area.

This is why Michael's article is so important, as phone jacking is going to become more and more common, as crooks find use for it.

Obscurity is no longer usefull for this Apple product.

I found an interesting app - PrivateTIP that enables the user to hide text inside a photo and keep it to photo library or sent it over a mail.

Interesting, they now have stenography on the iPhone. Very cool.

Following your instructions in #9, I see no setting even vaguely related to SMS.

I found it under Settings > Messages on my iPhone.

You can increase the security via Passcode by turning off Simple Passcode. That allows you to use a more sedcure complex Passcode rather than a simply four digits.

Settings - General - Passcode Lock - Simple Passcode (Off)