Are you a secret ninja with super secret things to say? Think your iPhone is a secure way to say them? Possibly not, as the case may be, but iOS 5 is making some strides in the right direction.
Hackers, data thieves, and others can intercept phone calls under iOS 4, but Apple has responded by rolling out a new iOS 5 feature. As our source suggests, the new feature warns you when you are about to engage in a potentially unsecured call, making you aware and giving you the chance to “lock up.”
So, if iOS 5 alerts you of an insecure call, you might naturally wonder how people might be listening in anyway? It turns out that some people that are sufficiently sneaky that they use a device called an IMSI catcher – essentially a fake GSM cell tower that can trick your phone into sending its traffic to it. The approach does NOT work for CDMA-based phone, like the Verizon iPhone.
The other unfortunate news is that, aside from leaving the area to one with more cell tower security, there seems to be nothing you can do to avoid the potential security problem. Still, it’s nice to know that the problem is there. So, if this is something that concerns you, then you now have one more reason to be excited for iOS 5 this fall.
Your thoughts? Sound off in the comments!