How Secure Is your iPad?

In researching a forthcoming InformationWeek Analytics IT Impact Report on the iPad 2, I became much more familiar with features enterprise users and IT staffers fret about in a tablet--things like support for automated provisioning, centralized configuration management, network security, and local data protection. Just the things often lost in the noise of a consumer-oriented rollout blitz.

While the iPad (and sister iOS devices the iPhone and iPod Touch) doesn't yet equal the BlackBerry--every mobile IT administrator's best friend--and leaves a lot to be desired when it comes to enterprise-grade management tools, it does sport a set of surprisingly robust security features.
Of course, the iPad incorporates the latest Wi-Fi security standards such as WPA2 personal (preshared key) and enterprise (Radius). It also offers a host of VPN protocols, including Cisco IPSec, Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol, and Point-to-Point Tunneling Protocol, with third-party apps from the likes of Cisco, F5 Networks, and Juniper adding support for SSL VPNs.

So data in motion is well protected, while data at rest, the flash drive partition for user and application data, is encrypted with AES-256 using an embedded hardware key, which is strengthened by salting (much like Unix passwords) with the device's screen-lock passcode. Local data can be wiped either remotely--using a third-party mobile device management app, Exchange ActiveSync, or Apple's Find My iPad service--or locally after a set number of invalid passcode entries.