The iPad Mini includes a host of built-in internet security features designed to keep users safe and online threats at bay.  It is vital every iPad Mini user understands the different levels of device security in order to gain maximum protection.  When looking at what the iPad Mini has to offer, there are 6 primary levels of security to focus on.iPad Mini Security

Platform Security

Without a strong platform as a foundation, creating a solid internet security strategy on an iPad Mini would be impossible.  The iPad Mini operating system (iOS 6) utilizes a variety of different techniques to promote device security.  Features include a secure boot chain, app code signing, encrypted file system which separates user and OS partitions, and application sandboxing.  Additional iPad Mini apps cannot run as traditional background processes which limits their access to privileged system resources unless the user specifically allows it.

Device Access Control

Device access control is a vital feature for mobile devices, especially smaller ones like the iPad Mini.  The iPad Mini leverages the same device access control options as the traditional iPad.  This includes PINs, complex alphanumeric passcodes, maximum failed attempt limitations, and auto-locking abilities.

Remote Locking

The iPad Mini is most often used outside of the home, which means a barrage of unknown individuals could accidentally or intentionally gain access to it.  Remote locking is a critical ability which allows users to lock their devices remotely.  This is most often utilized when the iPad Mini is lost or stolen.  Apple provides an app which allows uses to see their iPad Mini’s location, remotely lock, and remotely wipe the device.

Stored Data Protection

The primary method of protecting stored data is encryption.  The iPad Mini protects the entire file system with 256-bit AES encryption as well as SHA-1 integrity checks.  This prevents the storage from being removed and accessed on another device.  Unfortunately, malicious hackers can still jailbreak the device to read flash storage without a passcode.  It is also important to keep in mind that stored data encryption does not extend to synchronized data stored on other devices or cloud servers.

Wireless Security

As with all products running iOS 6, the iPad Mini can support all of the most common Wi-Fi security measures.  Many of the Wi-Fi settings can be difficult to find for users who are unfamiliar with the operating system.  A major drawback to keep in mind is that iPad Mini users cannot see or remove Wi-Fi network names which they have previously connected to if they are no longer nearby.  This provides hackers an opportunity to mirror the wireless network name and wait for the iPad Mini to automatically connect to it.

VPN Support

The final layer of protection for mobile devices is establishing a VPN connection.  The iPad Mini supports PPTP and L2TP/ IPsec protocols.  This can make it difficult for users to take advantage of the OpenVPN protocol which is continually gaining more popularity because it offers both high speed data transfers and high levels of encryption.

Overall the iPad Mini has all of the necessary framework components necessary to provide users with a high level of internet security.  As with all mobile devices, it is up to the user to take advantage of everything the framework has to offer in order to remain as protected as possible. A reliable VPN connection provider can be found at http://www.goldenfrog.com/vyprvpn/ipad-vpn