Securing your iPad

The iPad is a great new device - a mini-computer that holds large amounts of your personal and private information. As such it would be wise to think about how to keep this private information private should you lose it or have it stolen.

“You’re essentially carrying around a complete copy of much of your digital data” with the iPad, said Jason Rouse, principal security consultant at Cigital, which helps companies protect their software.

Malware and viruses are not known to the iPad as of yet, but like any internet capable device you should exercise caution when connecting to "unknown" wireless networks where your traffice could be sniffed and compromised.  Beyond that there are several things you can do to ensure your iPad is protected.

Lock it up.

This one is easy.  Tap the “Settings” icon on the home screen and then select “General” and “Passcode Lock.” Then set the four-digit code you want to use to unlock your iPad when you turn it on or wake it up.  You can choose from several intervals, but shorter is better.  Better security yet would be to configure your iPad to erase all data if someone enters the wrong code 5 or 6 times.

You can also purchase a case with a lock on it to keep people out who don't own it.  There are a number of vendors that sell such products and one could be purchased for around $40.

Find or disable a lost or stolen iPad.

Apple’s "MobileMe" service has a feature called “Find My iPad” (or your iPhone) that can locate a lost device.

Using your computer, sign up for MobileMe and activate the feature by logging into your account and following the on-screen instructions to see the approximate location of your iPad.

You can remotely set a four-digit passcode and lock it (if you haven’t already) by clicking “Remote Lock.” Then you can write a message that will be displayed on the screen to whoever may have found it — like,  “Lost iPad, Please call me at xxx-xxx-xxxx.” - even if it is locked.

Use complex passwords for online services.

With accounts to many sites it can easily be overwhelming to keep them all straight.  Luckily apply has an app called 1Password (which retails for $7.99) which lets you select a Web account from your personal list, like Amazon.com, and click the link for the site that leads to a login screen with your username and password already inserted.

Delete history, cookies and cache in Safari.


You can keep all this private by deleting your Safari browser’s Web history, cookies and cache. Tap the “Settings” icon on your home screen, select “Safari” and then use the respective buttons to clear them out. To set rules on when Safari accepts cookies, tap “Accept Cookies” and then choose among “Never,” “From visited” or “Always.”