The security features built into Apple’s iOS software are so good that the police are unable to gain access to defendant’s iPhones when they need to. Apple itself is able to bypass the security software and decrypt locked devices — and it do so when the police request it. But the company has so many requests that it has to add police to a lengthy waiting list.
Do you ever worry that federal agencies might be hacking into your smartphone to read your text messages and listen to your calls? Then you’re probably up to no good, but you can sleep easy if all of your dirty business deals are carried out through iMessage on your iOS device.
Apple’s iMessage encryption is so good, not even federal agencies are able to crack it.
Apple has made the iPhone more enterprise-friendly with almost every release of iOS, but some might say the company’s popular smartphone still isn’t ideal for business. When I say “some,” I mean Samsung. The Korean company just released a strange new advert to promote the enterprise features of its Galaxy S III and Galaxy Note II, and it couldn’t help but bash the iPhone and even BlackBerry devices at the same time.
Thanks to our friends over at Digiarty, Cult of Mac Deals is able to hook you up with a Mac app that allows those of you who are still ripping DVDs – say for backing up data or preparing home movies for the grandparents – to rip DVD to video/audio formats on Mac OS.
With MacX DVD Ripper Pro, you can back up DVDs in multiple formats to ensure you don’t lose precious memories or costly software, and you can even rip encrypted DVD to a slew of iOS devices in minutes without compromising quality!
And the best part is that you can get this Cult of Mac Deals offer for free!
Like many federal agencies, the Department of Veterans Affairs has embarked on the journey of integrating iPhones and iPads as mobile solutions. The agency currently has 20,000 mobile devices that includes iPhones and iPads along with some BlackBerries and a small number of Android devices. Despite the range of devices, the VA has been very active in trying to eliminate mobile data breaches and, according to the VA’s director of Mobile and Security Assurance Donald Kachman, the agency’s campaign has been extremely successful.
Kachman credits encryption technologies with as a major factor in that success – 99% of all VA data is now secured around the clock on mobile devices and desktop PCs. The security approach is one that can be a model for any organization.
There are plenty of reasons to want to encrypt the data on a hard drive. Before OS X Mountain Lion, Apple provided tools to do this with the startup drive, via FileVault. Starting right now, however, with OS X 10.8, you can encrypt almost any external drive you like, including flash drives (also known as thumb drives in my neck of the woods). Here’s how.
1Password by AgileBits is a an incredible tool for keeping your data safe. More than just a password manager, 1Password allows you to encrypt and organize a wide range of data (website passwords, non-web digital accounts, credit/debit card numbers and financial account details, software licenses, and files containing confidential information.
Those features are all well and good, but the biggest feature is 1Password’s ability to keep all that data secure in the face of brute force attacks – the kind of attacks where a piece of software simply tries combination after combination of possible passwords. Password cracking software that rely on such attacks can easily try thousands of potential passwords each second.
To find out whether or not 1Password can withstand such attacks, AgileBits tested one 1Password against John the Ripper, one of the most well-known password cracking tools.
Mountain Lion includes over 200 new features. Some of them are dramatic and hard to miss while others are minor conveniences that don’t stand out immediately. Many of those big and small new features and improvements have a lot of appeal for business users.
Here’s a list of the many new features in Mountain Lion that can help professionals in almost any industry work smarter, more efficiently, and more effectively.
Antivirus software specialist Bitdefender has found that nearly 19% of iOS apps access your address book without your knowledge — or your consent — when you’re using them, and 41% track your location. What’s most concerning is over 40% of them don’t encrypt your data once it has been collected.
That’s all going to change when iOS 6 makes its debut later this year, however.
One of the things that can frustrate mobile users when using an iPhone or iPad for work is needing to repeatedly enter passcodes other user account credentials like a user name and password. Often because of a mobile device’s size and virtual keyboard, this process can seem more onerous than it does while using a Mac or PC in the office.
A growing number of apps and mobile management tools are becoming available that make it relatively easy to safely store business data in an encrypted and secure container on an iPhone or iPad. Realizing that security requires verifying a user’s identity when accessing specific apps or content after the device has been unlocked. Advantages to this include significant increases in mobile data security and the ability to wipe just the business data off of a device if it is lost or stolen.
The downside is the need for mobile users to repeatedly enter credentials – a downside that one mobile developer is helping iOS users sidestep
This week's most...
Read our latest...
Cult of Mac is a daily news site that follows everything Apple. Our goal is to provide timely news, insightful analysis, helpful how-tos and honest reviews. Find out more about Cult of Mac.
Published in sunny San Francisco.
All times are in PDT (GMT-8).
![Still Ripping DVDs? Get MacX DVD Ripper Pro For Free! [Freebies]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/CoM-MacX-DVD-Ripper-Pro.jpg)
![Protect A Flash Or External Drive With Encryption In Mountain Lion [OS X Tips]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/Screen-Shot-2012-08-07-at-4.05.16-PM.jpg)
![19% Of iOS Apps Access Your Address Book Without Your Permission… Until iOS 6 [Report]](http://cdn.cultofmac.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/IMG_0173.jpg "Path-contacts")
