Apple has become a major player in the smartphone market. They have successfully created a product that has drawn as crazy a following as Woodstock. Despite its relative popularity, the iPhone has become the topic of a heated debate over its many newly revealed security flaws.
Details of the flaws were first released to the public at the BlackHat
security conference in Las Vegas. Here the security researchers, Charlie Miller and Collin Mulliner, discussed the ability of a hacker to send malicious code through SMS, which could potentially sever the iPhone's functions completely. Thus, allowing the hacker to gain complete control over the device. They initially told Apple how to fix the flaws. However, until the flaws were made public, Apple chose to disregard their concerns.
Reports are now coming in that the latest OS 3.0.1 update that was released last week has completely booted the iPhone off of Exchange 2007 servers. Exchange 2007 requires on-device data to be encrypted, which is standard safeguard used by businesses. It has been suggested that the new OS update is the cause for rendering the iPhone incompatible. This recent slip-up in the latest OS update proves that the iPhone's OS is not running in an encrypted environment. The iPhone is NOT a business machine, as it was promoted.
The iPhone is taking a step back in the "coolness" department of the office. With the arrival of the Blackberry Storm 2, the iPhone's only true opponent, Blackberry will soon topple the iPhone 'fad'. More and more mobile users and business profressionals are getting concerned over the security of their personal photos, e-mails, phone call logs, etc. The threat of hackers possibly infiltrating your mobile is ever more real today, and cannot be met with only a flashy screen or sleek design. Security must be a standard, or your entire facade will become a rotten apple.