PC Data Security Blog

Kill at-risk data! Apple’s iPhone does it.

Apple’s recent announcement that its wildly successful iPhone has a “kill switch” capability has been met with surprise and even outrage on the part of some industry watchers and privacy advocates. http://news.yahoo.com/story//nf/20080811/tc_nf/61270 Apple’s stated purpose for imbedding the kill switch technology in the iPhone is that it needs the capability in the event a malicious program is introduced to the device such as applications that steal users’ data.   While conspiracy theorists might see a pernicious side to the kill switch and worry that Apple might use the application to collect information about its users, the momentum toward the broader application of this technology would appear unstoppable.  And there is already precedent:   As Business Weeks’ Olga Karif points out, other industry players, including wireless carriers, regularly remove harmful and/or offensive applications from users’ handheld devices.   http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/aug2008/tc20080818_266301.htm?campaign_id=rss_tech

Regardless of how one feels about the kill switch concept, this technology has legitimate and extremely useful applications, especially in the enterprise market, and particularly with regard to laptop computers.   Although Apple’s stated purpose for the kill switch is to remove potentially harmful applications, the same basic technology can be used by enterprises to destroy or prohibit access to lost or compromised laptop ­data.  In the same way that Apple might reach out and remove harmful content from the iPhone, an enterprise can use kill switch technology to remove data on lost or stolen laptops. Potential benefits of this capability are obvious given the myriad laws and regulations pertaining to protection and/or loss of private data.

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1. Thank you for the useful read!

   Comment by iPhone Apps — September 16, 2008 #

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