Hacker says its data scrambling is "entirely useless" The iPhone 3GS has a newly minted hardware encryption capability. That’s the good news. The bad news is: it can be hacked in less than 2 minutes with commonly available freeware, according to PC World, picking up on a story originally broken by Wired.com. The ease with which the hack can be performed raises new questions, at least for some, about how suitable even the newest iPhone is for enterprise deployments accustomed to the policy-driven management and security with the RIM BlackBerry and Microsoft Windows Mobile platforms. InfoWorld’s Doug Dineley recently did a very thorough assessment of the new security elements in iPhone OS 3.0, and concluded that the improvements, though welcome, still are far short of what many if not most enterprises require. An excerpt from PC World story on the decryption: Jonathan Zdziarski — iPhone developer and hacker extraordinaire — showed Wired how easy it is to tear the 3GS apart and expose data. “Apple may be technically correct that [the iPhone 3GS] has an encryption piece in it, but it’s entirely useless toward security,” Zdziarski said. He added that the iPhone 3GS is about as secure as the iPhone 3G and the first-generation iPhone, the latter two having no encryption features whatsoever. Zdziarski did more than assert: with the Wired story, there’s a video of one of his iPhone decryption exploits. Related content opinion Nokia's strong start for its Windows Phone handsets Focuses on craftsmanship, "contextual knowledge," and the "next billion" users By John Cox Oct 26, 2011 5 mins Smartphones Operating Systems opinion Steve Jobs and Life in the Shadow of Death "Death is very likely the single best invention of Life." By John Cox Oct 05, 2011 10 mins Data Center opinion Saks 5th Avenue store features 64 iPads in interactive display iPad mosaic links to online images, video and tweets By John Cox Sep 08, 2011 2 mins iPad Wi-Fi opinion Close encounters with Steve Jobs Have you met, seen, talked with Apple's Steve Jobs? By John Cox Aug 25, 2011 1 min Apple Wi-Fi Podcasts Videos Resources Events NEWSLETTERS Newsletter Promo Module Test Description for newsletter promo module. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe