iPhone Active Sync vs. lackberry BES - Thoughts?

[weemdog]

I've posted this in the BES ADmin forum, but I thought I would get everyone else's input in this as well.

I am the BES Admin with my company, which is in the banking industry. We currently have about 140 devices deployed. Several members of our management team would like to get the iPhone instead of the Blackberry.

From an enterprise standpoint (NOT a personal preference standpoint), what are the advantages and disadvantages of staying with BES only vs. adding ActiveSync to the mix?

Some of our initial thoughts are focused around:

1. Security of data on the device (obviously we handle very sensitive financial data)
2. Supporting iTunes (what will this add to our desktop support load?)
3. Increased administration responsibilities (user setups, troubleshooting, etc.)

Does anyone have any case studies available for this topic? I would really like to find an industry-specific study on this if it is available. When Googling this topic, I find a lot of generalities, but not much in the way of specifics.

What are your thoughts on all of this? Thanks in advance for everyone's input and ideas!

[Duvi]

I am not an expert as I've only been around one enterprise iPhone which my ex-boss had.

Maybe there is, but we couldn't figure out how to do group lists. On my blackberry, I have a group labeled "My Team" in which has every member of my team and rather than remembering each name, I just find the group list to send it to all.

Biggest advantage in staying Blackberry is the fact that you'll be on one platform and can easily get support as it's familiar to everyone. If you have iPhone questions or concerns, you may have to go on forums, discussion boards and other resources if you don't have the answer.

1- Security for Apple products is one of the safest in terms of being hacked into, not hacked. A lot of people say it's not secure because you can jailbreak the device to do other things, but that isn't someone hacking into your device to see your emails.

2- 103 mb for the latest version. I'm not sure if that was the answer you were looking for though.

3- Like stated before, this is a whole new ball game. This will mean a lot more reading and learning. If you don't mind then this shouldn't be a problem. One thing I can tell you is that Apple has the best and easiest learning curve.

[Shao128]

Originally Posted by Jayden0606

1- Security for Apple products is one of the safest in terms of being hacked into, not hacked.

What what wha? I'm sorry, but that just isn't true, Apple products are not the safest by any means. Security by obscurity mayabe... There is nothing wrong with defending your platform of choice, but theres no need to lead people in the wrong direction because of that. Apples software has been found full of holes, I wouldn't trust itunes on my corporate network.

Do a google search for itunes security flaw.
Heres some highlights:
Apple bitten by iTunes security bugs • The Register
Big Secret iTunes Patch - Security Watch

Or heres one that took apple months to fix:
Researcher Finds iPhone 3G Flaw -- Apple iPhone -- InformationWeek

Heres another iphone one:
Huge Security Flaw In IPhone 2.0.2: Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

And another: Report: security flaw lets hackers pwn iPhone - Boing Boing

And if we are just talking straight Apple software, lets not forget the month of Apple bugs as a an example:
the Month of Apple Bugs

Now in fairness RIM has a few security flaws, I did a quick google search and heres what I could come up with, I could only find these 3, if there are more please feel free to share them:

Critical Security Vulnerability Found in BlackBerry Desktop Software | BlackBerryNews.com

BlackBerry a Juicy Hacker Target

RIM finds security flaw in BlackBerry Enterprise Server - Engadget Mobile

[jsanders]

One more article... here:

Five—no, four good security tips… from CSOonline.com | BlackBerryNews.com

[Duvi]

I was actually thinking of Macs when I said that, but even Apple as a whole, my statement holds true.

I didn't say "the" safest, but one of. I agree BB is the safest if that was the concern, but compared to others and smartphones in general, I think Apple is up there.

Of course there a security flaw with every device.

[Shao128]

Originally Posted by Jayden0606

I was actually thinking of Macs when I said that, but even Apple as a whole, my statement holds true.

Not to turn this thread into an Apple vs thread... but seriously what are you basing your information on?

Have a read here Mac versus Windows vulnerability stats for 2007 | Zero Day | ZDNet.com

I have attached the key part here for those not wanting to read the entire thing.

[Duvi]

I am basing it off experience, not "could be" or "could happen"

If it could be or could happen, then why isn't this common for mac users, but yet common for windows.

How many Trojans and viruses are being made/produced for the mac.

Those stats mean nothing if hackers aren't taking advantage of it.

My cousin has been using a mac for about 10 years and he downloads more things you can imagine. He has never had a virus or trojan hit has computer. Me? Every PC I've had has had one, including this vista machine I'm on. I barely d/l anything unofficial as I actually pay for my music and for emails, I check them off of my berry, but yet have had them.

In in all actuality, you did mean to turn it into a "mac vs windows" or "he is incorrect" thread.

My platform of choice isn't Apple! In fact, I've only owned one Apple product and that was the iPhone 2g and 3g.

[Shao128]

Like I said in my first post "Security by obscurity". But the OP stated he works in the in the banking industry, which I assume there would be transferring some very sensitive data. So based on Apples horrid track record of security flaws, exploited or not does not matter because there is is a larger potential for an exploit. To people looking to exploit a computer and steal information its easier to exploit one of the fewer Microsoft vulnerabilies because there is a larger user base so their success would be higher.

My point is simply this, would you trust your enterprise data to a company who lets that many flaws slip through the cracks?

[Duvi]

I respect that thought, but my point is summed up best in this article:

Mac Security vs PC Security

You say "security by obscurity" and I say:

Abhinav's reasoning for why Apple are thought to be so secure is because virus writers would rather target the 90% of the population that have PCs rather than the 10% that are using Macs. If you were a virus writer, and Macs were "easy" to hack into, then why not write one for both?

OP: I apologize, but my point is IMHO and from my experience, it has been very safe. Nothing is a 100% safe.

From a BES standpoint, I don't really see a disadvantage, except loss of productivity. The question you should be asking yourself is, do they need an iPhone? Heck, ask them "why do you need an iPhone?"

[weemdog]

I'm not an Apple fanboy or anything, and we won't be siwtching to Macs anytime soon, but I'm more concerned about having to install and support iTunes on all of these PC's as well as having to support the end user on the iPhone device itself.

I'm not too concerned about iTunes security or Apple security in general, because we have pretty tight PC security policies. I'm more concerned about the actual iPhone device security if someone loses it.

I agree that they don't NEED an iPhone from a business standpoint, but if the President of the Bank wants one, we have to give him a REALLY good reason why we can't give him one!

[Bad Ash]

Originally Posted by Shao128

What what wha? I'm sorry, but that just isn't true, Apple products are not the safest by any means. Security by obscurity mayabe... There is nothing wrong with defending your platform of choice, but theres no need to lead people in the wrong direction because of that. Apples software has been found full of holes, I wouldn't trust itunes on my corporate network.

Do a google search for itunes security flaw.
Heres some highlights:
Apple bitten by iTunes security bugs • The Register
Big Secret iTunes Patch - Security Watch

Or heres one that took apple months to fix:
Researcher Finds iPhone 3G Flaw -- Apple iPhone -- InformationWeek

Heres another iphone one:
Huge Security Flaw In IPhone 2.0.2: Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

And another: Report: security flaw lets hackers pwn iPhone - Boing Boing

And if we are just talking straight Apple software, lets not forget the month of Apple bugs as a an example:
the Month of Apple Bugs

Now in fairness RIM has a few security flaws, I did a quick google search and heres what I could come up with, I could only find these 3, if there are more please feel free to share them:

Critical Security Vulnerability Found in BlackBerry Desktop Software | BlackBerryNews.com

BlackBerry a Juicy Hacker Target

RIM finds security flaw in BlackBerry Enterprise Server - Engadget Mobile

You can cross of the iPhone security issue you listed. That was cleared up a few months back. As for the other Mac issues, I'm most of those are cleared up as well, though I can't be positive. If I were to sit here and look for Windows security issues the list would be insane...

As for what you posted about Windows vs Mac I find that hard to swallow. My Vista machine is constantly downloading security fixes...

[Duvi]

Originally Posted by weemdog

I'm not an Apple fanboy or anything, and we won't be siwtching to Macs anytime soon, but I'm more concerned about having to install and support iTunes on all of these PC's as well as having to support the end user on the iPhone device itself.

I'm not too concerned about iTunes security or Apple security in general, because we have pretty tight PC security policies. I'm more concerned about the actual iPhone device security if someone loses it.

I agree that they don't NEED an iPhone from a business standpoint, but if the President of the Bank wants one, we have to give him a REALLY good reason why we can't give him one!

Too funny... Well, then there isn't a real reason not to. Security is good with 2.0 as it has a wipe feature as well.

Here is a good video on youtube of being able to wipe the device:
YouTube - iPhone 2.0 Remote Wipe Feature in Exchange