MobileMe Adds Another Layer of Security

A report by The Mac Security Blog, managed by security firm Intego, points out that Apple has updated its cloud-based service, adding some new features. Particularly, MobileMe now sports improved security in all of its web-based apps, Intego has found.

“The change is the addition of SSL (Secure Sockets Layer), a function used to provide encrypted communications between a user’s web browser and a remote server,” Intego, a company specializing in Mac security, reports. Intego develops VirusBarrier, a well-known antivirus program for the Mac.

“Users will find that, when they load a page for a MobileMe app, the URL begins with https rather than http. This, together with the padlock icon in the browser, show that communications are secure,” it explains.

Intego directs visitors to a Support document recently posted online by Apple. Entitled “MobileMe: Service updates as of May 18th, 2010,” the knowledge base article reveals that the MobileMe service has been updated with improvements. These are enumerated by Apple further down in the article, with the company noting that affected products include MobileMe Account, MobileMe Contacts, MobileMe Calendar, MobileMe iDisk, MobileMe Gallery, MobileMe Mail, and MobileMe Backup.

For Gallery, the Mac maker has added a Gallery app for viewing shared photos and movies on iPhone and iPod touch and support for video publishing in Aperture 3. iDisk improvements span sync reliability for Mac OS X v10.6.3 or later, and support for email address auto-completion when sharing files, and copying images to the clipboard on iPhone and iPod touch.

Sync of contacts adds improved sync reliability on Mac OS X v10.6.3 or later, and on Windows with MobileMe Control Panel 1.5.2, while the “Find my iPhone” feature gains Safari access on iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. Accounts add a password strength indicator, which help the creation of a more secure password, as well as the ability to convert email aliases to a family pack member account. For me.com SSL, access for web applications has now been enabled.

Improvements for the Mail beta at me.com include widescreen and compact views, rules to keep your email organized everywhere, single-click archiving, message formatting toolbar, increased security with SSL, and an overall improved performance.