Worth Reading: Apple explains iOS security

A diagram of iOS's security architecture
Source: Apple Apple usually keeps its cards very close to its chest when it comes to security. A recently published document bearing the simple title "iOS Security", provides for the first time a concise overview of the security architecture of Apple's mobile operating system. It covers both basic structural issues and details such as which keys are used to secure specific data and how these keys are protected from misuse.

The document offers little new information, as most of the details have already been laboriously researched and documented by independent security specialists. It is also sometimes necessary to read between the lines in order to interpret some of the information.

Apple explains, for example, that the time taken to check a passcode is calibrated so that attempting to crack it by entering every combination of a six digit alphanumeric string would take more than five and a half years. This means that the default four digit number PIN can be cracked in less than 15 minutes and therefore fails to offer a reasonable level of protection.

• iOS Security, an security overview of Apple's iOS platform.
  

(crve)