Security risk from using iPhone and iPod for war by U.S. Military?
The iPod Touch/iPhone is one of the most successful mobile media devices throughout the world. There is no doubt that the iPod brand has become a household name in many countries. The device has even received the attention of the U.S. military as it is being looked at for warfare applications.
According to Newsweek, the iPod Touch/iPhone is currently being considered by the U.S. military for use in what is being called as “networked warfare.” The technology will enable solders to be connected to each other electronically as well as to weapon systems and intelligence systems.
The U.S. Department of Defense have already developed applications that can display aerial videos from drones and hold video conferences on the devices. There are other applications that will allow solders to perform ballistic calculations as well as remotely control bomb-disposal robots. It all sounds like a device the military would already be using today with the advancements in technology.
However, it does make sense to harness something like the iPod Touch or iPhone, capable of running custom applications instead of building such a device from scratch specifically for military use. The only caveat I perceive to using commercial devices for warfare is the high risk in security.
Enemies will fully understand the technology driving behind the devices as it is widely available commercially throughout the world. Even if the military is able to super encrypt the devices with state of the art security programming, the specs for the hardware and operating system have been widely publicized.
I certainly like the fact that there will be less use in taxpayer’s money because the device has been developed and tested by Apple already. Custom made devices for the military could run in the thousands due to specific usage. It will be interesting to see what measures the U.S. military will be able to come up with to keep the security tight on the devices.
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April 20th, 2009
Can you imagine? As easily hacked as an iPhone is and the military might even CONSIDER using them? What IS this world coming to? Sure hope that if they are even CONSIDERED they would be with a completely custom OS and NOT every allowed to be connected to the public internet (only the military private networks).
April 21st, 2009
Military should use Open Source only. It’s the only way to ensure security.