It is a sad fact of modern day life that in spite of the numerous technological advances that we utilize in our day-to-day tasks, we are still at risk from attacks by certain unscrupulous elements that are capable of overriding the security measures that we have in place. Our email accounts, our computer networks and our cellphones…are all in danger from being compromised by hackers and other types of techno criminals.

The recent release of the iPhone has only brought these security issues closer to the forefront and emphasized the fact that in spite of how far technology has come in recent years, the threat to our personal and corporate security remains a very real and significant concern.

As it turns out, the iPhone seems to be particularly prone to security breaches due to an inherent flaw in the Safari web browser, which comes included with every iPhone. This browser, which is based on the same browser that comes with the Apple desktop computer, has been modified specifically for use with the iPhone and allows users to surf the Internet among other capabilities.

This disturbing bit of news comes from the Independent Security

Evaluators, which is a security firm based in Baltimore. Through a series of tests, three of the company’s employees were able to gain control of a few iPhones, by fooling users into browsing to an innocent looking website by way of a Wi-Fi link.

Employees of the same company wrote the code that made this hack possible and they further discovered that the flaw that allowed this to happen also exists in Apple’s desktop computer systems. Charles Miller, who is the head security analyst at Independent Security Evaluators, feels that this issue could have been avoided with the implementation of a few basic security measures, among them eliminating some of the existing links between the Safari browser and the particular iPhone applications that utilize them.

Another form of hacking, while not raising any security concerns, nevertheless warrants some attention from potential iPhone users. This is the practice of installing unauthorized 3rd party programs for the purpose of unlocking their iPhone. This will not only result in the iPhone becoming permanently damaged, it also voids the warranty on that particular phone. Apple will not repair any unit in which the unlocking hack has been applied.

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