Ride the Lightning
Cybersecurity and Future of Law Practice Blog
by Sharon D. Nelson Esq., President of Sensei Enterprises, Inc.
iPhone Insecurity AND Kindle Insecurity
April 8, 2010
Thanks to Andrea Cannavina (of Legal Typist fame) who attended ABA TECHSHOW and sent me a follow-up question after attending the 60 Tips in 60 Minutes session.
During the session, I had mentioned the iPhone's insecurity, including the fact that anyone who comes into possession of the iPhone can grab all the data, whether or not a PIN is enabled. If the SIM card is removed, it is also impossible for the owner to wipe the data remotely. Finally, the iPhone is evidence rich (far more than other smartphones) and "snapshots" a lot of user activity, which means, for example, that client documents which you've viewed on the phone may well be recoverable. Texts and e-mails to clients (or at our divorce-saturated shop, to lovers) are also likely to be recoverable.
Predictably, there was a tweeting firestorm by iPhone fans, which (thankfully) I was blissfully unaware of until after the session. There is no dispute among experts about the iPhone's insecurity. This is why iPhones are not generally used by big business, which has to a large extent adopted the very secure BlackBerry. The iPhone is a wonderful consumer device, but it presents clearly security conerns for businesses.
During the session, another tip was about bringing all case documents to hearings and trials on a Kindle, as one of my friends does. One of the folks who was agitated by my iPhone remarks then tweeted about the Kindle's insecurity.
Frankly, I thought all the PDFs could be locked prior to putting them on the Kindle – while the device itself is indeed insecure, I believed the data could be secured by PDFing it.
After Andrea wrote, I tested my theory and was surprised to see that the Kindle cannot open locked PDFs – it simply is not a supported feature.
So I have to eat a generous helping of crow pie (pass the salt please). However, I would note that documents which are intended to be used in court are going to be public records in any event, therefore security concerns may be somewhat allayed. Carrying a Kindle sure beats lugging boxes to the courtroom. But lawyers who choose to Kindle-ize their case documents need to be mindful of security. Point well taken.
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