I'm new to the apple mobile product family and don't hear much about security and protection from viruses, etc. Also, online banking and purchases using the iPad. Only a couple weeks with the iPad and I would love to expand my use of it for finances and purchases. Any input here would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Don't worry about viruses

I agree, didn't have any problems with it on the Iphone either.

Being a Unix based OS the chances of viruses are EXTREMELY slim.

The biggest reason for viruses is:

A) Outlook
B) Active Control
C) Downloadable executables
D) Background Scripts

None of these things exist on iPad.

Yeah which is great

I have a droid and it kinda scared me when i saw a anti virus in the marketplace.

Originally Posted by Sincere11105

I have a droid and it kinda scared me when i saw a anti virus in the marketplace.

Then it did it's job! All antivirus software is actually worse than the viruses themselves! They are there to sell you a useless background operation that tends to cripple the OS as badly as most viruses.

Originally Posted by gentlefury

Originally Posted by Sincere11105

I have a droid and it kinda scared me when i saw a anti virus in the marketplace.

Then it did it's job! All antivirus software is actually worse than the viruses themselves! They are there to sell you a useless background operation that tends to cripple the OS as badly as most viruses.

Agree 100%. I have been online since 1984 (on Windows/Dos since 1994) and have never used any firewall or virus 'protection'. I have NEVER had a virus. I do down load AVG free once a year just to check the system, and never had anything....How can that be? I do not go to porn sites, I do not use peer to peer sites, and I do not open ANY email attachment unless it is something I asked someone to send to me.....

Don't worry about it on the iPad. I also already do all my bill pay and banking on my iPad......

Originally Posted by Bremen

Agree 100%. I have been online since 1984 (on Windows/Dos since 1994) and have never used any firewall or virus 'protection'. I have NEVER had a virus. I do down load AVG free once a year just to check the system, and never had anything....How can that be? I do not go to porn sites, I do not use peer to peer sites, and I do not open ANY email attachment unless it is something I asked someone to send to me.....

Don't worry about it on the iPad. I also already do all my bill pay and banking on my iPad......

Well done Bremen.

For those who are security paranoid, take note of Bremen's post. This is a good example of safe computing habits. Although I assume Bremen is more tech savvy than the average home computer user. So I don't recommend to just anyone to go w/o anti-virus on their home PC.

But if you are tech savvy and you avoid P2P, risky websites, and suspicious email attachments, you are already doing a decent job of protecting yourself.

I recommend to all though to be sure to apply Windows updates (especially security related ones), and also have at least a minimal firewall turned on. A personal PC firewall could also help protect against day zero attacks.

Sorry if I'm getting off topic.

Anyway I do not have any major concerns yet about iPad security.

the main security issue at any computer is in front of the computer.


I started my it-history in 1981 on an Apple-II.....I owned an Atari 1040ST and I was proud to have a 20MB-Hardrive connected to it.
I was product manager at Commodore, and I launched the very first 386-Tower-PC in 1988, parallel to the Amiga-2000.

I never had any virus on my computer, but I'm really frustrated with pc's, or better to say Windows. The very first Windows version, which I start to like is "7". Never the less, I never ever would install a Windows PC without virus-protection.

On a mac it is a different story. But believe me, we also will see viruses for Macs in the near future, and you better be prepared.