THE MACWORLD iPHONE SUPERGUIDE
17
At the bottom of the Wi-Fi Networks screen
you’ll see an Ask To Join Networks option. With
this switched on, your iPhone will automatically
join known networks, ones you’ve joined before. If
no known networks are available, you’ll be asked
before joining a new network. If you switch this
option off, you’ll have to select a network man-
ually if none of your known networks is available.
SECURITY
Keep in mind that the iPhone’s eagerness to join
other networks isn’t necessarily good for you
when you’re trying to ensure that your data
doesn’t wind up in someone else’s hands. There’s
plenty of evidence that some network snoopers
spend a fair amount of time scooping up private
e-mail messages and private information. Some
of what the iPhone gives up pretty easily includes
e-mail passwords for unprotected accounts, the
contents of unprotected e-mail messages, and
unencrypted Web page contents (typically any-
thing not involving e-commerce or banking).
When you’re on an unprotected Wi-Fi network,
you’ll want to be conscious of what information
you’re potentially giving away. Here are some of
the most important steps you can take.
SECURE E-MAIL
By default, the iPhone uses SSL (Secure Sockets
Layer) encryption for POP, IMAP, and SMTP e-mail.
SSL e-mail connections work just like secure Web
sessions: the iPhone’s e-mail software exchanges
digital certificate information with the mail server
and creates an encrypted tunnel that can’t be bro-
ken using any known techniques.
For AOL, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, and .Mac accounts
that you set up from the Mail screen, SSL is the
default option and shouldn’t be changed. But
keep in mind that you won’t get this security if
you log in to your account through the Web-mail
interface in Safari. Yahoo and .Mac don’t offer
SSL-protected Web-mail access. (Gmail does, but
be sure to use https://mail.google.com to access
it—gmail.com won’t get you there.)
For accounts other than those four service
providers, you’ll need to check with your ISP to
see if it supports SSL connections. If your ISP
doesn’t give you a secure option, you may be able
to work around the problem by setting your
e-mail account to forward or copy incoming mes-
sages automatically to a secure service like
Hushmail (www.hushmail.com). You can then set
up a Mail account on your iPhone to retrieve
e-mail from Hushmail with full confidence.
SECURE WEB BROWSING
Although Apple offers a couple of options for
protecting other kinds of Web traffic, none of
them is perfect.
Set Up Secure Web Proxies One option is to
use a secure Web proxy service, such as Secure-
Tunnel (www.secure-tunnel.com). The secure
proxy creates an SSL connection between your
browser and Secure-Tunnel’s servers, rendering
your sessions inaccessible to local Wi-Fi network
snoopers. To set up a secure proxy for Web
access, go to Settings: Network: Wi-Fi. Unfortu-
nately, the setting works on a per-connection
basis. You’ll have to reenter the same proxy data
tediously every time you connect to a different
network, making it a rather impractical solution for
most users.
Use a VPN Another option is to use a VPN. VPNs
wrap all data entering and leaving an operating sys-
tem over a network—including e-mail, Web data,
and widget communications—in strong encryption.
Apple supports two popular forms of VPN
client software: PPTP (Point-to-Point Tunneling
Protocol) and L2TP, often known as IPsec (IP
Security) over L2TP (Level 2 Tunneling Protocol).
Unfortunately, if your company requires the use of
GETTING STARTED WITH THE iPHONE
TIP
USE THE RIGHT PORT
If your ISP uses an unusual port for its
secure e-mail, you can set the iPhone’s
Mail program to accommodate it. (Port
numbers are like numbered cubbies in a
mailroom: each cubby corresponds to a
particular service, like chat, FTP, or e-mail.)
To set up your account, tap on Settings:
Mail: Other. Instead of entering just the
mail server name (for example,
pop.gmail
.com
), append a colon and the port num-
ber, like so:
pop.gmail.com:995.