So you talk about marketing buzzwords. Isn't Apple king of this?
Nice non-sequitur, but we're talking about enterprise buzzwords that aren't backed up with documentation. Apple's marketing puffery in regards to the enterprise is actually quite low, while the
documentation is readily accessible. Blackberry? You get some nice slick marketing brochures, but to get to the nuts and bolts, you have to buy their product... and then realize it's not as exclusive and superior as one is led to believe.
I am in no way a BB fan. I have not owned a BB since 2007. With that said. All these things you say BB are not the only business in town anymore. Could you please tell me how Apple is doing it more securely?
Well for starters, it's Blackberry and their fanboys saying they're doing it "more securely." The burden of proof is on
them, and so far the proof hasn't been forthcoming.
What we DO know is that for years now, users of BIS who THOUGHT their communications were secure have been subject to Blackberry sanctioned
backdoors in
various countries, where they deliberatately sacrificed security in the name of being able to continue to sell devices to consumers there. Granted, what we know now about what the NSA is doing is no better, but this is an admitted,
deliberate cooperation with foreign governments, while still parroting to users that security is paramount and superior in BlackberryLand. And you can bet if this level of access is provided overseas, you'd be naïve to think the NSA has to break a sweat, either. But what is being gleefully exclaimed in Blackberry message boards? "Hurr hurrr, you won't have to worry if you're using a Blackberry." Ignorance truly is bliss.
How to get around this? Well, nothing is foolproof clearly, but while a proprietary infrastructure exists for both Blackberry and Apple, you're not
forced to use Apple's. You can mange your devices with
ActiveSync,
Google apps,
Zimbra, implementation of
always-on VPN policies among other policies and restrictions via
iOS configurator (all of which can be applied with or without needing a server), the list goes on...
without having to buy a proprietary front end server and software.
The enterprise itself has the power to develop a security model it is happy with. It doesn't
have to be "well, we're not happy with this iCloud thing, so we're going to not buy iPhones anymore." Which is the whole point of this thread.
While the OPs problem does not really describe a security flaw. What it does bring up is a very big security issue for a lot of business.
And as has been oft-repeated, this isn't a security flaw, but a lack of proper mobile device management on the part of this alleged "multi million dollar company's" IT department, which apparently consists of a single individual who made the mistake of allowing ANY mobile devices without deploying them with MDM certificates and policies in place.
Properly implemented, the
company would be the one who could dictate how and when the device they purchased is locked, wiped or activated, not the disgruntled employee. If the OP
didn't read the manual, which really isn't that hard to decipher and makes it VERY clear how to take activation lock out of the employee's hands and into the company's control, then he can't blame Apple.
The REAL security flaw here is an unskilled IT department in the OP's company, who chose to hand a company-purchased device to employees without even turning the thing on, plugging it into a computer and clicking a box or two. And I sincerely hope that they aren't public facing or dealing with private customer data, because that could be shockingly bad, perhaps on the level of
Target, the day poor policies mean customer data goes out in the wild.
Sure companies need to write new policies for iOS 7, but that does not change the fact that it makes it much harder for companies to use iOS 7.
False. Doing this is not much different from the procedures that must be followed for company owned Blackberries. Policies and MDM must be applied there as well, or the employee can just as easily brick a company-owned Blackberry before they're shown the door.
The only difference is that to do this on a Blackberry, you HAVE to buy their expensive software and infrastructure. It's actually harder on BBOS than iOS.
If big companies are constantly having to consider iPhones bricks because the can't use them. They are going to have some major issues.
Let me link this again, because it bears repeating:
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5927
A simple configuration certificate with policies specified, put in place before an iOS device is issued to an employee, renders this moot. The software required to do this costs
nothing, which can't be said about other devices. The time and effort required to do this by IT staff is equal to, if not less than, comparable devices. They just have to
RTFM before they start to deploy, or do a little bit of Googling. And if THAT is too much work for the IT guy, then the problem isn't with Apple.