New iPhone Vulnerability Exposes Data to Linux

A new report from security expert Bernard Marienfeldt illustrates a fairly big security hole in the way the iPhone secures user data. When plugged into a Windows or OSX box, and iPhone will only display the DCIM pictures folder. But on the newest Lucid Lynx build of Ubuntu Linux, users can get full read access to the phone. If you think setting a security PIN will help, you're wrong - it doesn't seem to do a thing.

This doesn't require the phone to be specially configured, or compromised in any way. Part of the problem is that in order to make syncing easier, the iPhone does not need any software switches to be flipped in order to exchange data with a computer. Another problem that allows this bug is the iPHone's lack of data encryption.

Marienfeldt says that full write access may be easy to gain as well with further investigation. If this is accomplished, an unauthorized party could access phone functions like calls and text messaging. The real lesson here is that maybe enterprise users should think twice about deploying iPhones. Does this change to calculation for anyone out there?

Privacy Poll: Over Half of Facebook Users Primed to Quit

All the recent hoopla surrounding Facebook's privacy policies has users of the social networking service more than a little nervous. So much so, in fact, that some 60 percent of Facebook users are ready to walk away and find a new virtual stomping ground, suggests a new poll by Internet security firm Sophos.

Out of the 1,588 Facebook users that were polled, 30 percent said that they were "highly likely" to quit over privacy concerns, while another 30 percent said they "possibly" would. Combined with the 16 percent who indicated they already have moved on, that's more than three-fourths who have either already walked away or are considering doing so.

"What this poll shows is that the majority of the people we polled are fed up with the lack of control that Facebook gives them over their own data," Sophos wrote in a blog post. "Most still don't know how to set their Facebook privacy options safely, finding the whole system confusing. What's needed is a fundamental shift towards asking users to 'opt-in' to sharing information, rather than to 'opt-out'."

Sophos also said that mass exodus from Facebook seems unlikely, but did note that "delete Facebook account" has become an increasingly hot search term on Google.