Better Technology boosts iPhone security controls

Good for Enterprise works on iPhones, iPods, and iPads.

(Credit: Good Technology)

When an employee at AIM Media lost his iPhone containing company e-mails and other sensitive data last year, there was nothing to be done except hope that whoever found it didn't care to snoop.

Now, if that happens again AIM Media IT Director Nelson Saenz can just remotely wipe the data.

"Apple made it possible for the iPhone to work with Microsoft Exchange," he said. "But from an IT standpoint what was missing was centralized administration and security."

Since January, AIM Media has been using Good for Enterprise, software and service from Good Technology that lets companies manage and secure smart phones that employees are increasingly using for work and play. For many employees, it means they don't have to carry two phones, such as the work-sanctioned BlackBerry and their beloved iPhone, because the corporate data on the device can be protected.

And as of Monday, companies that are paying the subscription fees for employees' iPhones will be able to remotely wipe the entire device and not just the work-related e-mails, calendar, contacts, and other data.

Good Technology is releasing iPhone Management so that companies, government agencies, and other organizations that may have more stringent compliance and other regulatory restrictions can have more control over the iPhones, iPads, and iPods their workers use.

This could free up doctors and others who work in HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act)-governed areas to be able to use iPhones for work, said John Herrema, chief marketing officer at Good Technology.

"We're giving the IT department a finer level of control so if you are coming from a regulated industry you can manage that subset (of iPhone users) in a more controlled way," he said.

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Google remotely wipes apps off Android phones

One of the proof-of-concept apps was disguised as a preview of the "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" movie.

(Credit: Jon Oberheide)

Google has remotely removed two free apps from several hundred Android phones because the apps misrepresented their purpose and thus violated Android developer policies, according to a company spokesman.

This marks the first time Google has used the Remote Application Removal Feature that allows the company to delete apps for security reasons that have been installed through Android Market.

The apps were proof-of-concept programs designed to test the feasibility of distributing a program that could later be used to take control of the device in an attack, according to Jon Oberheide, the developer who wrote and distributed them.

The one app--called RootStrap--executed code that merely printed a message on the phone that says "Hello World," while the second app did the exact same thing but was disguised as a preview of the "Twilight Saga: Eclipse" movie, he said in an interview with CNET on Friday. There were about 50 downloads of the RootStrap app and 250 to 350 of the Twilight app, though some people later uninstalled them, he said.

Oberheide has developed a program that could be used to bootstrap a rootkit, effectively allowing someone to remotely take control of a phone by having an app already installed on it phone home to fetch code that could exploit a vulnerability on the device, he said.

"An attacker who develops legitimate-looking apps and distributes them on the Android Market could gather a large install base and if there was a vulnerability within the Android operating system or Linux (upon which Android is based) the attacker can phone home to see if there is an exploit to download and push it out to all the phones he controls and take complete control of the phone via the kernel," said Oberheide, who works at a security start up called Scio Security.

Oberheide removed the apps voluntarily from the Android Market after being asked to by Google, he said.

The apps "were not designed to be used maliciously, and did not have permission to access private data--or system resources" beyond accessing the Internet, Rich Cannings, Android Security Lead, wrote in a blog post.

Under the Android Market Content Policy for Developers, "developers should not upload or otherwise make available applications...(that offer) misleading information about an application's purpose."

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Lotus finds a buyer for its hybrid engine

Lotus used the Evora 414E Hybrid concept to show off its range extender engine at the Geneva auto show.

(Credit: Wayne Cunningham/CNET)

Last year Lotus announced a new engine designed specifically as an onboard generator for electric vehicles, giving them range beyond what batteries can provide. That engine was more than a concept, as the Fagor Ederlan Group, a European-based supplier of power train and chassis equipment to the automotive industry, announced an agreement with Lotus for production and sales of the engine.

Lotus' three-cylinder 1.2-liter engine combines block, head, and exhaust manifold in a single piece for efficient construction and low maintenance. The company showed it off as a component of the Evora 414E Hybrid at this year's Geneva auto show.

Fagor Ederlan has a large number of automotive clients, and has supplied everything from aluminum knuckles for Mercedes-Benz suspensions to engine components for Honda. Although Fagor Ederlan did not announce a specific client interested in Lotus' generator engine, Honda could use it to replace the fuel cells in its Clarity vehicle, which already has an electric vehicle architecture. Likewise, Mercedes-Benz has in the past suggested that its experimental fuel cell vehicles could use a different generator source for electricity.

Interest in Lotus' engine will probably depend on the success of GM's upcoming Chevrolet Volt, which uses just the kind of extended range electric vehicle architecture the engine was built for, as other automakers develop a competitor. GM itself is probably not a potential buyer, as it has already developed the Volt's engine in-house.

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