Security is one of the biggest concerns for any organization that allows employees to use their own smartphones or tablets for work related purposes as part of a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) strategy. It is a perfectly reasonable thing to worry about, as a piece of malware on an employee's smart device can cause widespread problems to arise.
Even with security protocols in place to prevent these issues, companies are relying on employees to behave, which is not always the case. For Apple users, one of the hottest trends amount techies is "jailbreaking." This refers to hacking the mobile operation system of the iPhone or iPad in order to bypass the string limitations that Apple has on their devices.
Once it is done, users are able to add many new features and download millions of new applications that are not available through the iTunes App Store. However, many of these apps are designed with malware and immediately infect the device.
A recent article from the Washington Post examined the jailbreaking trend more closely. The hacking community supports the jailbreak because it is a way to "beat the system" by getting around the stringent controls that companies like Apple put in place. It is also a tremendous market for businesses that have apps that may not be Apple approved.
"Apple's goal has always been to ensure that our customers have a great experience with their iPhone, and we know that jailbreaking can severely degrade the experience," Apple spokeswoman Trudy Muller said in a statement. "As we've said before, the vast majority of customers do not jailbreak their iPhones as this can violate the warranty and can cause the iPhone to become unstable and not work reliably."
By partnering with an IT consulting firm that specializes in Mac integration, organizations can be sure that jailbroken devices are kept off the network.
