Seeing the iPod as a Security Threat

Is the iPod a computer security threat?
By Lora Kolodny

We all know the financial and cultural wonders Steve Jobs unleashed with the iPod—but did he also unleash a security threat? According to an FBI/Computer Security Institute study, insiders commit 70% of computer intrusions and system hacks that damage businesses. As the popularity, storage capacity, and connectivity of gadgets like the iPod increase, experts say, so will the use of such devices to perpetrate these crimes at work. “Laptops in 2000 had about the same storage capacity as iPods today,” say Mark Komisky, the CEO of BlueFire Security Technologies. Programmers at his security software firm in Baltimore recently discovered open-source codes that turn the music players into smarter computing devices—more like a Treo or iPAQ— that can sync with a computer’s contacts, calendar, and e-mail. Sathyan Iyengar, the CEO of Santa Clara, CA, wireless and telecom security company InToto, says small businesses may lack the IT budget to purchase equipment that controls access to sensitive data, but they do have an advantage: “It’s easier and cheaper to walk around to 10 workstations and disable each USB drive than to do it for 1,000.”

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