Password security on iPad

[Mcclure]

I'm a teacher and our wifi doesn't allow students access, only teachers/empoyee logins work.

Recently I've seen students on the network and one of them blurted out that all you need is a teachers iPad/iPod and you could get the login required to get on the network. I was looking around on my iPad and I can't seem to find anyway that a student could get the login for a teacher (username but not password) just from getting their iOS device. Anyone know if that is the case? I'm pretty sure on my MBP that I can show the characters for the password (not here so I can't check).

I'm guessing what they meant was that they just get the login from a teacher willing to give it to them and then they can log in. I really don't care if they are on the network but they have used my iPad in class and I want to make sure my passwords aren't compromised.

Thanks for any help.

 

[Ashwood11]

iPad User Guide
http://help.apple.com/ipad/4/interface/

 

[Mcclure]

I don't understand how the user guide will help. I know how to get on a wifi network.

I'm wondering if there is anyway on the iPad for someone to get a password (that shows up as the dots usually) to actually show. I understand that this probably isn't the case, but just want to make sure. Like I said in my previous post, I'm guessing it is just a teacher (or a few) that give out their login information so that students can get on the network.

 

[IrishVixen]

There's at least one app for jailbroken devices that will allow you to see the keychain where wifi passwords are stored, but no way known to do so for stock firmware. So your theory is probably sound. But...

Then again, all it takes is one good hacker--and that whole scene is mostly full of kids. I wouldn't put it past them to have found a way.

One easy thing they could have done: With the latest jailbreak tool, if you had handed someone with any JB experience an iPhone/iPod Touch/iPad on 4.3.3 firmware and walked off while it was still logged in to the wifi network, they could have jailbroken it in under a minute, snagged that app, gotten the passwords, and hidden everything they'd done, because the Cydia app can be hidden if you know how. We're talking 5 minutes tops, and it could easily be done so that at a glance, it would still appear to be stock. You'd be jailbroken, your wifi password compromised (possibly a great deal more compromised), and you wouldn't even know it.

(If you're updated to 4.3.4/4.3.5, this is a non issue--for now. Most jailbreaks require plugging into a computer, but that last one only required web access from the device.)

If I, a woman of enough years that school is a distant memory, know this can be done, you can bet kids do too.

Seriously, anyone who puts their iDevice with any information you want to keep private into anyone else's hands is simply asking for trouble. On a stock device, you can't even password protect most apps. There's plenty of trouble people can get to even without jailbreaking it if your device is actually in their hands. Most people leave their passwords in Safari for websites like this one, or Facebook, because it's a nuisance to retype them each time. A malicious person could easily start posting under your name, etc. They could add their own email accounts to your device, mail off the naked pictures of your girlfriend or the diatribe you wrote about your boss in Pages or a snapshot of your vampire-werewolf-zombie porn collection in the Kindle app, then delete the accounts and you'd never know it until suddenly that stuff is all over the web.

Heck, the iPhone Help section has numerous posts that start out "my drunk friend thought it would be funny to add a password to my phone and now he can't remember the password..." Or "my four year old somehow deleted all my contacts," etc. (The only answer, to the forgotten password, BTW, is to restore the phone. Hope you backed up recently.)

You get the idea.

If your iPad is something you feel is necessary to hand around, and you're not going to be absolutely rigid about supervising its use, don't put ANYTHING on it you're not willing to lose/have compromised. Or jailbreak it yourself and learn how to make your data more secure than Apple allows on stock.

 

[Bob Maxey]

Seriously, anyone who puts their iDevice with any information you want to keep private into anyone else's hands is simply asking for trouble. On a stock device, you can't even password protect most apps.

(Ed: Snipped a bit)

If your iPad is something you feel is necessary to hand around, and you're not going to be absolutely rigid about supervising its use, don't put ANYTHING on it you're not willing to lose/have compromised. Or jailbreak it yourself and learn how to make your data more secure than Apple allows on stock.

I simply assume that my iPad will be hacked (also my laptop) and whatever information is on my devices will be used against me. This is why I never use a CC unless the site can be trusted. And even then, I almost always use gift cards. Then it really does not matter if someone takes my CC info.

And if you JB, the first thing you NEED to do is change the default log-in info and password. Unless you change it, I know it: Root and Alpine; it is this for every iDevice user unless changed.

I am not a porn guy and I do not steal software so if my iPad is lost or stolen, who cares.

My work documents are stored on MicroSD cards (Jailbreak and use the Apple CC Kit) and other stuff I am allowed to store on-line goes into DropBox. I also use AirStash. This is the strategy I use to stave off problems I simply assume will be eventual.