CBR Online:Published:15-May-2009 | By Kevin White

CEO reveals protection products in the pipe

The chief of security software supplier McAfee Inc has told Reuters that the company is planning to produce protection programmes for the Apple iPhone line of smartphones.

CEO Dave DeWalt told the news service that the company’s intention is to broaden its product offering to Apple users, and that its new security software will be in addition to technology it already supplies to protect Apple desktops against viruses. Noting that a billion programs had been downloaded from Apple's App Store within 9 months of its launch in July 2008, DeWalt said,

"The more applications become available, the more the threat of security and the threat of identity and data loss is there. The iPhone is slowly making inroads into the enterprise but security administrators are wary about connecting to a secure corporate network. The "lack of encryption" on the device itself worries some.

Security ISVs also have issues over not being able to access the list of applications that are sandboxed on an iPhone.