Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?
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I was thinking about buying the new iPad Pro 10.5, so I stumbled on this link on security… wow, I'm impressed! I wasn't aware of all the enclave thing, and everything is built on silicon!
It seems to me that modern iOS devices got the best security feature set AND the best security defaults of any endpoint-OS (including Android, Windows, Linux, OSX and the BSDs).Other than that, it's one of the single case in the industry where there is a single point of trust (apple!) from the hw to the software… controlling the full stack can be a big advantage.
So, what do you think of the modern iPads as secure endpoints (for sysadmin work, of course) from a technical point of view?
I'm in no way an apple fanboy or affiliated with apple reseller etc, just want to buy for myself so I would like to get your feedback about it
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They've been pretty secure for a while. Apple takes security seriously, especially on iOS.
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Yes but Apple has always had a walled garden approach to their iOS devices.
You can have more freedom and more risk or more security and less freedom, not both.
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@Breffni-Potter said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
Yes but Apple has always had a walled garden approach to their iOS devices.
You can have more freedom and more risk or more security and less freedom, not both.
No problem with iOS freedom as of today. If I have a good ssh client, RDP, mail, nice browser, dropbox/other cloud storage, I'm set
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@Francesco-Provino said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Breffni-Potter said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
Yes but Apple has always had a walled garden approach to their iOS devices.
You can have more freedom and more risk or more security and less freedom, not both.
No problem with iOS freedom as of today. If I have a good ssh client, RDP, mail, nice browser, dropbox/other cloud storage, I'm set
.That's not what he means. You're very locked into Apple's ecosystem. Fortunately for you, you've found everything that you, as a user, needs/wants to do. But there was a time (not sure it's still not case) where you were limited to a very small set of ring tones, You are still limited to Safari for a browser - if you see anything else, it's just a wrapper over the top of Safari, but it's still Safari's guts running underneath.
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@Dashrender Actually since the first iPhone you could add ringtons, but you were limited to add them from iTunes.
I don't think Google Chrome is a wrapper on top of Safari on iOS.
In general Safari is really good, fast and secure (IMO)
The real advantage I see on iOS over Android is that iOS is proprietary for iPhone, that implies much more optimisation, so really good performances and less problems.
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@Francesco-Provino said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Breffni-Potter said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
Yes but Apple has always had a walled garden approach to their iOS devices.
You can have more freedom and more risk or more security and less freedom, not both.
No problem with iOS freedom as of today. If I have a good ssh client, RDP, mail, nice browser, dropbox/other cloud storage, I'm set
.I made the switch to Android from iOS. I have a huge amount more freedom, I will not go back to iOS after this. Even the little details like mass closing apps, 1 button on Android, iOS you have to swipe a load away. I have all my messages on my Windows computer so I can reply to texts and make voice calls from a comfy headset.
So many of the little things add up to make it a pleasure to use.
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I switched from iPhone4 to Moto G+ .
For the cost of one iPhone6, I could have bought 2 and a half Moto G+. -
@Giggiux said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
I don't think Google Chrome is a wrapper on top of Safari on iOS.
It is, all alternative iOS browsers are.
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@StrongBad said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Giggiux said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
I don't think Google Chrome is a wrapper on top of Safari on iOS.
It is, all alternative iOS browsers are.
So, why some sites works on firefox-chrome and not on safari in iOS? I read about this thing somewhere else, but it's still unclear to me…
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Modern device security begins and ends with the meat sack using it. Secure the meat sack and you'll be fine with pretty much any device.
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@Francesco-Provino said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@StrongBad said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Giggiux said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
I don't think Google Chrome is a wrapper on top of Safari on iOS.
It is, all alternative iOS browsers are.
So, why some sites works on firefox-chrome and not on safari in iOS? I read about this thing somewhere else, but it's still unclear to me…
Probably because the header "claims" to be something other than Safari, so the website doesn't block you.
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@Dashrender said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Francesco-Provino said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@StrongBad said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Giggiux said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
I don't think Google Chrome is a wrapper on top of Safari on iOS.
It is, all alternative iOS browsers are.
So, why some sites works on firefox-chrome and not on safari in iOS? I read about this thing somewhere else, but it's still unclear to me…
Probably because the header "claims" to be something other than Safari, so the website doesn't block you.
It is not "Safari" underneath. It is Webkit. Safari also uses Webkit.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkit -
@StrongBad I don't know how accurate internet is, but a really fast search says that Chrome uses "Blink" for iOS, that is a fork of Apple's WebKit made in 2013.
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@JaredBusch said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Dashrender said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Francesco-Provino said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@StrongBad said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
@Giggiux said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
I don't think Google Chrome is a wrapper on top of Safari on iOS.
It is, all alternative iOS browsers are.
So, why some sites works on firefox-chrome and not on safari in iOS? I read about this thing somewhere else, but it's still unclear to me…
Probably because the header "claims" to be something other than Safari, so the website doesn't block you.
It is not "Safari" underneath. It is Webkit. Safari also uses Webkit.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/webkitRight - thanks for the break down
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Does anyone know if the iPad has gone through an exaustive and reviewed security auditing?
The more I search, the more looks like it has to be much more secure and stable than any Win/Linux/Mac/Android out here.
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@Francesco-Provino said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
Does anyone know if the iPad has gone through an exaustive and reviewed security auditing?
The more I search, the more looks like it has to be much more secure and stable than any Win/Linux/Mac/Android out here.
It definitely has. I agree it's probably the most secure endpoint device.
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@Francesco-Provino said in Modern iPad security: the most secure endpoint ever?:
Does anyone know if the iPad has gone through an exaustive and reviewed security auditing?
The more I search, the more looks like it has to be much more secure and stable than any Win/Linux/Mac/Android out here.
Well of course it's more secure. It's younger and very single vendor. The other systems you mentioned are old as dirt and most of them are made to be VERY flexible. There are a ton of things you can't do on an iPad, but perhaps your situation doesn't need those things, and you'll be happy with an iPad.
The same can be said for Chromebooks.
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@Francesco-Provino Yes, the closed, xenophobic iOS environment is secure... and severely limited compared to every other device available. But if that works for you....
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I realize that CVE summaries don't really show the seriousness of each CVE relative to the others, but Win10 had 172 CVEs last year and iOS had 161. This year Windows is only at 72 and iOS already has 243. I think it is a stretch to say that it is the most secure endpoint. I'm not denying that it is generally secure, but that is a broad claim that does not appear to be supported by the data.
