16 Jun 2010

Issues with iPad 'seen before'

The issues with AT&T's recent data breach concerning iPad devices have been seen before by mobile vendors, it has been claimed.

Sumit Siddharth, principal security consultant for penetration testing at 7Safe, said some telecoms vendors have had security issues in the past and the problem therefore does not lie with the new technology, but the way in which these companies protect their data.

He commented: "The issue we are talking about is not a vulnerability in the iPad and does not have anything to do with Apple. The issue here was a security flaw in the AT&T website."

According to a recent survey by Fortify Software, 83 per cent of IT security personnel consider commercial applications - the ones bought off the shelf - to be riddled with code flaws and vulnerabilities.

Indeed, half of the respondents admitted to attempting to hack these applications, with 73 per cent of these respondents doing so to test the strength of their own network's defences.