It’s been fascinating the conversations that I’ve been reading back and forth between organizations, security spearheads, and then your run-of-the-mill Apple fanbois about iPhone/iPad Security.
At the end of the day I almost want to just yell (loudly):
Who cares?
But that would be fairly inconsiderate; and it is a big deal for the enterprise as to whether mobile devices, in general, are ready for prime-time rollout.
But what about the Church? Should we be considering seriously the security issues of very popular devices?
The short answer is a resounding “Yes.” We definitely should, but I’m one that believes we shouldn’t go overboard; most ministries do not need the security restrictions and requirements of a military compound nor of a large financial institution.
We just need to make sure that sensitive information, just like any average business, is kept secure and safe. And even if security experts put the iPad as having an “F” in terms of security, I still think it’ll do just fine:
Despite Apple’s updates and the inclusion of the Cisco VPN, Dulaney said Gartner concludes that the iPad is “not enterprise ready … and Apple would have no problem with Gartner saying this was not enterprise ready. … We don’t endorse use of netbooks, and the iPad is in the same category. … We don’t think it has the security and manageability capabilities for offline applications and, more importantly, the support of Apple for the enterprise.”
The knee-jerk reaction is so typical, isn’t it? If the information is so darn critical then it means it must be tightly controlled, right? Then why have it accessible in the first place, on an iPad/iPhone or whatever?
With all that being said I feel pretty comfortable letting staff use the devices for their ministry needs – I suppose I could have said that instead of going on a long 300+ word rant.
đŸ™‚
Stephen Bateman says
I mean security vulnerabilities get exploited when there is money to be had.
Not ignoring the spiritual element of security, there really isn’t too much money in trying to exploit an iPad vulnerability for a church staffer. I mean maybe you get a juicy piece of data, but I don’t think it’s such a big deal that we should prevent staff from using it yea?
Travis Fish says
Agreed. Security on the iPad isnt incredible. But other than email and some other documents, why would you keep anything that sensitive on one?