iPad Security

Apple’s new iPad is set to be released on April 3rd and SecurityOrb.com a Washington D.C.-based information security media company has looked beyond the hype into the possible security matters consumers should be concerned about.

Adrian Williams, a Lead IT Security Consultant at SecurityOrb.com stated, “The iPad will be subjected to many of the same security issues as other mobiledevices currently in the market, for example threats such as the wireless man-in-the-middle attack, shoulder surfing and theft are very common.”

In addition to Adrian’s concerns, many experts feel the iPad will inherit many of the same security issues of the iPhone.  For example, weakness in the encryption function and malicious software are major concerns.  If the iPad were to use the same encryption as the iPhone, sensitive personal data would be at risk of being captured and viewed.  Also, the iPad will be at risk of obtaining malicious apps from the Apple AppStore.  The screening process for the applications on the AppStore isn’t always the best.

Othniel Alphonse, the host of a Washington DC-based talk show titled “The Tech Talk Show”, brought up a topic often covered on his radio show. He stated,” The biggest risk pertaining to the iPad has nothing to do with the device itself.  As covered on my radio show in the past.  Hackers usually take these high value topics to implement “poison online searches” to malicious sites.  We have seen it with the death of Michael Jackson, The Haiti Earth Quakes and countless other times.”

What Mr. Alphonse is referring to is a techniques hackers used called Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for malicious purposes.  This ensures their sites show up when consumers conduct a search on the iPad to possibly infect their system with malware.

Personally, my biggest concern stems from Apple’s decision not to use Adobe flash player on its iPad devices.  Flash player is a popular application used on a majority of website to play video and display content.  Many hackers will take the opportunity to offer fake iPad Flash Player applications on the Internet for it to only be malware.

What are your thoughts on this?

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