Internet Security for your iPhone?
 
By now the whole planet probably knows that Apple announced its long-awaited iPhone at Macworld on Tuesday. Way more than just a mobile phone, and even more than a mobile-phone-plus-iPod, the iPhone is really a mobile Macintosh, with full Internet access using either WiFi (AirPort) or wide-area cellular service. The iPhone is so much a mobile Macintosh that it even runs Mac OS X!
 
The iPhone doesn’t run OS X, however, because it wants to be a Macintosh. The iPhone runs OS X because it needs to be a phone, iPod and Internet machine all at once and OS X is a great way to do this. In his keynote, Steve made this fact quite clear, pointing out that OS X provides the phone with critical features like syncing, networking and security. Yes, he specifically called out security as an important feature of the iPhone provided by Mac OS X. It’s great to see that Apple once again is ahead of the game when it comes to Internet security. Internet Security for your iPhone. Who would have thought?
 
Of course most of the details of the iPhone’s security (like all its other features) remain to be seen. For instance:
 
  1. • Will it support WPA (WiFi Protected Access), connections to closed networks, and other important forms of WiFi security?
  2. • Will it run the ipfw firewall built into the guts of Mac OS X?
  3. • Will there be an interface to that firewall, and will third-parties be able to supplement that interface, like we at Open Door do with our DoorStop X Firewall?
  4. • How will it share files with Macs (and Windows machines) and what will be the security ramifications of that sharing? For instance, hopefully it will use Apple Filing Protocol (AFP) rather than, or at least in addition to, SMB, the Windows protocol.
 
These and many, many other security questions will hopefully be answered in the next few months. Stay tuned. But it’s great to see that Apple has at least thought about many of these (and other) questions ahead of time. Way to go!
Thursday, January 11, 2007