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Does The iPhone Need An Antivirus App? It Depends ...

This article is more than 10 years old.

Eugene Kaspersky, founder and CEO of Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab, has hit out against Apple for not allowing his company to develop security software for iOS devices such as the iPhone or iPad.

Kaspersky Lab (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Speaking to The Register, Kaspersky says that he is "a little bit disappointed" that Apple won't allow his company to develop endpoint security apps for iOS. He goes on to claim that this "will mean disaster for Apple" when malware finally strikes the platform.

If iOS is in need of an antivirus app, then where's the malware? According to Kaspersky, attacking the iOS platform is "more complicated" than other attacks and that cybercriminals are currently content to attack other platforms.

"They are happy with Windows computers," says Kaspersky. "Now they are happy with Mac. They are happy with Android. It is much more difficult to infect iOS but it is possible and when it happens it will be the worst-case scenario because there will be no protection. The Apple SDK won’t let us do it."

Kaspersky believes that an attack on the iOS platform could result in a decline in the popularity of the platform and give Android and Windows Phone an advantage.

But does the iPhone need an antivirus app? I think that the answer to this question depends on how you use your iPhone.

For home users, no, I don't think that they need to worry about malware targeting their iPhones or iPads, because there isn't any malware out there attacking the platform. A security app aimed at home uses would both be a waste of money and system resources on the iOS device.

The biggest thing that home users need to be worried about as far as their iPhone or iPad is concerned is to make sure they don't lose the device. And by securing the device with a passcode and installing Apple's Find My iPhone app they should be able to both prevent data loss if the device is lost or stolen, and have a good chance of recovering the errant device.

However, for enterprise users, things are different. While a mass attack against iPhone or iPad users is unlikely given its complexity, a targeted attack against a specific entity -- corporation or government agency -- is far more likely. In this sort of environment, a rogue app or jailbroken iOS device could be used to infiltrate a network and spy on communications.

This is where an antivirus app, or more specifically, an endpoint security app, would come in very useful. The term endpoint security is a security concept that assumes that every device -- or end point -- is responsible for its own security. Because endpoint security relies on every device taking care of itself, having iPhones and iPads floating around compromises the security of the entire network.

This isn't the first time that Kaspersky has criticized Apple. Last month he claimed that Apple was 10 years behind Microsoft when it came to security, and the company will have to change the ways it approaches updates following the recent malware attacks, where a Java vulnerability allowed over 600,000 Macs to be netted into a botnet by malware called Flashback.

While the iOS platform has managed to remain malware free, the same cannot be said of Google's Android operating system. According to Finnish security firm F-Secure, malware targeting this platform has almost quadrupled between 2011 and 2012. The bulk of this malware is designed to steal money from infected smartphones.