Kaspersky: Apple Not Serious Enough About iOS Security

With its closed ecosystem, you would think Apple takes protecting the iPad, iPhone and iPod from malware seriously. Well, IT take note: Endpoint security for iOS is, apparently, not an important enough part of Apple's agenda for its juggernaut of a mobile device platform—at least according to Eugene Kaspersky, CEO of the well-known security company that bears his name.

Speaking with The Register, Kaspersky spoke of how he’s a “little bit disappointed” the Apple SDK does not allow anti-virus vendors like his company provide the type of software necessary to fully protect iOS products from malware. “We as a security company are not able to develop true endpoint security for iOS,” Kaspersky said.  

Sure, as Kaspersky readily admits, it is much more difficult to develop malware for the iOS than Google Android, Windows or even Apple's own Mac OS. However, it will happen, eventually. There are simply too many iPads and iPhones out there, and too much money to be made, for criminals not to continue to try until they succeed.

When that happens "it will be the worst-case scenario because there will be no protection," in place ahead of time, Kaspersky warned. “That will mean disaster for Apple.” Well, not just for Apple, but also—potentially—the millions of iOS users and the companies that have come to rely on these mobile devices to communicate and get things (personal and business) done on a daily basis.

As Apple defenders correctly point out, however, the iOS is - in fact - built from the ground up to be somewhat more secure than other operating systems (desktop and mobile) on the market, Mac OS included. So, in addition to vetting every program that's submitted to the App Store, when an application runs on an iOS device, for example, it is sandboxed.  This severely limits what hardware and OS resources an app can access, and—in the case of malware—wreak havoc on.

Of course, this doesn't mean a more robust anti-virus/malware program isn't warranted for iOS devices. It just means, for the iOS, security solutions (such as those traditionally offered by the likes of Kaspersky and its ilk) may not be required to perform, for instance, the same type of resource-hungry scans they do on an Android smartphone.

That’s a good thing, in my opinion.

Nonetheless, Kaspersky predicts the inevitable attacks against the iPhone and iPad will considerably boost market share for Android—a far less secure platform, yes, but one that allows security companies like his to develop anti-virus software. He's gone so far as to bet that Android will account for 80 percent of the mobile market by the middle of the decade.

No doubt part of what drove Kaspersky to make his comments to The Register is the desire to establish a foothold with another major mobile operating system and, by extension, access to a market of millions upon millions of additional customers.

So, where does the mobile market stand today? Gatrner reports that during the first quarter of this year, Android held a significant edge over the iOS in smartphones with a total of 81 million units sold, or 56.1 percent to Apple’s 23 percent market share.  Apple frenemeny (enemy and frequent legal foe in mobile, friend as component supplier) Samsung comprised 40 percent of Android sales.

Meanwhile, Apple continues to dominate the tablet market with the iPad. In fact, according to a recent report by NPD, the iPad was the main contributor to placing Apple on top of all mobile PCs sold during the first quarter of 2012, giving it a 22.5 percent share of the market. That's nearly double second place finisher HP and even further ahead of such laptop powerhouses as Acer, Lenovo and Dell. iPads accounted for nearly 80 percent of Apple's 17.2 million mobile PC shipments.

James Alan Miller is Managing Editor of Tom's IT Pro. He is a veteran technology journalist with over seventeen years of experience creating and developing magazine and online content. Founding editor of numerous business and enterprise computing sites at the internet.com network, James headed up the After Hours section at PC Magazine, as well as hardware and software sections of various Windows publications.

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