NetQin, in case you were wondering, is one of the leading providers of mobile security — something that’s becoming more and more of an issue for enterprises and consumers alike. (indeed, their software is practically required for any enterprise handing out Android devices given the susceptibility of the platform.)

The company is one of the biggies — indeed one of the most influential mobile focused security firms around — with about 100m registered users growing at 300k a day!

The company is also about to implement a change of brand: NetQin is now NQ Mobile. I didn’t have a problem with NetQin myself — in fact I’ve rather admired it over the years, however I see the logic in terms of international expansion. “NQ Mobile” is far more accessible in a wider variety of markets.

So standby for the all new NQ Mobile branding to be unleashed shortly. I’m looking forward to it!

Here’s a neat hole in the iPad’s security, as shown by Cesare Garlati of BringYourOwnIT in the video embedded above. See that guy reading his business email on his super-locked-down enterprise device? The one which locks instantly and needs a passcode?

OK, here’s what you do: after he’s put it down from reading his email (that bit is important), grab it and slap on a Smart Cover (if it hasn’t got one; all the best thieves use them).

Press the power button at the top until you get the “Power off” message; flip the smart cover over the iPad so it shuts off the screen; flip it back open, and then press the “Cancel” button

via iPad security hole lets you bypass lock screen by using Smart Cover | Technology | guardian.co.uk.

PlayBook anyone?

Now then let’s see how fast Apple fixes this. Seriously, there are ultra senior executives wandering around the planet right now with market moving information on their iPads. The moment someone manages to sneak a peak at some acquisition documents or pre-release numbers — and the moment that goes public — the ramifications for Apple could be considerable.

This is why most banks won’t dream of moving off BlackBerry. Fundamentally, you need the basic stuff to work.

Fat lot of good the Exchange 7-character security PIN number is when the device is left on the train and all you need to do is stick on a Smart Cover to see what’s going on.

Don’t leave it for 5 weeks Apple. Get a fix out pronto.

Brian Reed, leader of the Product Team at BoxTone talks about the fast-growing market of Mobility Management. BoxTone offers full Mobile life cycle management, from secure device management to support management, operations management and pro-active monitoring.

Over to Brian:

Download M4V Video | Subscribe to Podcast | Embed video

So, for example, you could use the Lenel mobile system to receive alerts whenever someone unauthorised tries to gain access to your office’s development lab. You’ll get an alert immediately with the details of the person, their keycard and the time/door they tried to enter. And you can then choose to permanently lock the lab, give them access, block their keycard… the whole shebang. Suffice to say it’s all very Tom Cruise/James Bond. Genius.

I watched the presentation then afterwards asked Joshua if he’d take the time to speak on camera about what they’re doing. He agreed so I’ll be able to bring you that, along with their slides (screenshots galore) shortly. I also got Justin (the chap who developed the mobile plugin to their systems) on camera doing a walk-through of the app.

Very, very cool.

Telling any customer who’s just selected their line rental that there’s another £12.99 to pay each month just-in-case doesn’t go down too well. Especially when you do the 12.99 x 24 month calculation (£311.76).

But in terms of preventing your iPhone from getting stolen, what can you do? Well you can download a plethora of bollocks applications that will lock your iPhone. They really will lock it solid. They can report the phone’s location, they can prevent the device from being restarted, oh there’s a whole host of things they can do.

Provided, that is, you start them in the first place. And leave said application running.

Because an iPhone does not have background processing capability, there’s next to f-all you can do with anti-theft applications. Rafe and I saw a fantastic application at Mobile World Congress that embeds itself into the low-level parts of the Symbian operating system and will truly protect your device. You run the application and it sits in the background until it’s needed. Leave the handset for 30 seconds and it’ll automatically activate. Smart and useful. We’ll be bringing you a video of this in action soon.

With all these iPhone security applications, the best they can offer is please-remember-to-start-me functionality. Start the app before you put the phone down where it’s likely to get stolen, then your phone will be protected.

So, for example, if you’re sitting out at a nice cafe on Las Ramblas in Barcelona — and you decide to have your handset out on display — you must activate the security application whilst it’s sitting there. Just in case, right?

If you forget to activate the security application — which almost everyone does — then you’re screwed.

I don’t know why people are actually buying them.

I’d be really interested to see an iPhone anti-theft application that actually works without you having to activate it.

In fact, it took me longer to get my act together to take some photos of the new layout than it did for the Phones 4U staff to fix their issue. Well done

It can’t just be me that sees these things, can it? Have you noticed any silly lack of planning on at your local phone retailer?

Well at least twice a day I walk past what would appear to be the flagship Phones 4U store on Tottenham Court Road and most days I’m treated to an unobstructed view of some poor normob’s personal details. Name, address, phone number; it’s all there in plain sight as they cross their fingers and hope they pass the credit check for that shiny new device perched on the desk in front of them.

(For the non-Londoners: Tottenham Court Road, or TCR is traditionally where people go to buy high-tech goods although in recent years it’s popularity has dwindled somewhat.)

When I strolled past the other day and took some snaps with my N95 at lunchtime nobody was actually buying a handset, which is fortunate really as I couldn’t in good conscience post a photo of some poor unwitting sap’s home address on the Internet.

So yes, that photo you see on the left is one of at least five points of sale desks with the salesman’s monitor facing out into one of the busiest streets in London just a few strides away from the exit of one of London’s busiest tube stations (the prime real estate directly outside the exit is actually taken up with a very well designed and stylish Carphone Warehouse).

Now, as you’ll notice the N95 didn’t do a great job of capturing the text on the salesman’s screen.  But a 1080p high-definition camera such as the one we use for the MIR Show would easily pick up all the information on the screen.

I’m sure the Information Commissioner’s Office would have something to say about this.

In the meantime, if you really must purchase a phone from a high street store, I recommend going into the operator’s own shop or buying online… speaking of which, I always buy from the operator’s website but does anyone have any experiences to share from using a third party website to order their contract handsets?

Not too long after we reported that the Apple Ads which claimed that the iPhone could access ‘all the parts of the internet’ have been taken off air in the UK, comes news about serious flaw that exists in the iPhone firmware 2.0.2. Publishing houses tell us that locking your iPhone with a 4-digit code is not safe at all. In fact, all it takes to gain access to all the private and confidential data stored on the iPhone is one tap on the screen and pressing the home button twice.

So far, the flaw is found to exist only in firmware 2.0.1 and 2.0.2 for the iPhone. Once a user taps the home button twice, he gains access to the phone’s ‘favorites’ and can thus dial any number he wants. Not just that, browsing a little more gives access to the phone’s Address Book and even mail. Imagine the horror when a random user has access to all your emails.

So far, the only work around available is to goto your Settings >> General >> Home Button and then set the option to select ‘Home’. Of course, I’d rather take care of my iPhone well enough. So, what now? Do we see a 2.0.4 right away? Or will it be 2.1 when Apple feels the time is right?

I wonder what Dan has to say.

I’m not a security conscious person, and nor am I one to want to set up a webcam with it’s own I.P address so I can follow it wherever I may be; however for those of you out there who like this ability to remotely spy, Mobiscope might just be the thing for you!

For a one time fee of $29.50 (roughly £15), you can have complete unlimited access to the service. With this you get “motion detection alerts over email” and you can “Start recording when motion is detected”.

Although not an interested customer myself, I see the potential for this. For example, spying on Babysitters, or Nannies, or whomever you may entrust children with; this could be an ideal device if you’re particularly worried. Or how about you want to ensure your employees are working hard? Well, check up on the webcam stream on your iPhone of course!

Or maybe, you’re on Holiday? (Let’s forget about roaming fees here), but you can spy on your house to ensure no one has stolen all of your lovely possessions. Although, I fear that idea may be slightly flawed, as a thief may probably head straight for your computer thus ending your connection.

But even if you don’t want to “spy” as I have named it, you could always make use of the hundreds (if not more) security webcam streams on the internet, or even the “picturesque” webcams. There are plenty of open links out there that you can sit and watch for hours.

I’ve been testing the “Trial” version of this, and I’m quite impressed with the speed, and picture quality. Admittedly, I haven’t actually been able to use it on the iPhone as of yet, but if it’s anything like what I am able to see now, then it’s pretty amazing.  When I can, I’ll get it working, and see if I can hook up my own links, and see how good it really is!

So is this a new era of security? I don’t want to make any predictions here, but the way cameras and computers have decreased or let’s say “blemished” our trust levels, I think this may be so. As much as I think this is definitely a cool application, that has plenty of potential, I’m quite sad to say that we even have to resort to it.

More importantly, do you think there is any future in mobile video security?

Send any questions or anything really to samantha@smstextnews.com

Aside from slightly mentally scarring me for life the series taught me one thing – Canadians are lovely people that never commit crime.

And it’s true, according to the mobile companies, nobody steals handsets in the great northern expanse of land.  But, for some bizarre reason the US mobile companies have the same opinion of Americans.  That’s just silly.

The Register has reported on the exasperation of Pete Gillespie who has had two mobiles stolen and not once has his Canadian operator, Roger’s Wireless, been able to put a block on the handset.

The company said it simply doesn’t do that – talent.  Nor does it trace where the phone is using GPS.

According to the Reg, this is nothing special for the US.  Europe may have implemented IMEI blacklisting years ago but US and Canadian providers continue to ignore the practice.

“Presently, we don’t have any North American operators connected to our [IMEI blacklist] database,” says James Moran, fraud and security director of the GSM Association (GSMA). “When we’ve raised the issue with these operators in the past, what they’ve said is that handset theft has not been an issue North America – or least not to the same degree it has been in Europe and the rest of the world.”

Maybe the US didn’t have the lovable gangs of pick pockets like in Oliver.

A quick check of my Rough Guide to San Francisco, one of the least crime ridden areas of the US, suggests otherwise.  “The biggest problem for most travelers is the threat of mugging”.  Even the accompanying picture suggests that pick pockets are rife.

It just seems odd that the US, which could easily be described as having a crime problem hasn’t yet done anything about this.

Still, you’d better pick a [phon] pocket or two boys.  You’d better pick a pocket or two.

Reuters add that Indian security agencies want RIM to provide the government with all the necessary algorithms to break the encryption used by the BlackBerry, while The Business Standard suggests that if the algorithms aren’t delivered, RIM could find itself cut off from the end of March.

It’s not the first time RIM has found itself under the microscope over security concerns and even threatened with a ban, but this is thought to be the first time that it’s been asked to hand over its encryption keys. It’ll be interesting to see whether RIM would rather hand over the goods or keep its crown jewels safe and face being locked out of a massive market.