” It’s certainly interesting, but it is not a system threating analysis whatsoever.”

The Iphone, Ipod touch and some phones from Nokia use a positioning system called Skyhook. The system uses WIFI hotpots to coordinate the location of the phone.Researchers at the ETHZ say they can spoof that locating ability.

SRDJAN CAPKUN: We can, for example, convince your device that iti s not in Zurich but in New York.

That’s Srdjan Capkun a professor at the Zurich tech school.

He says the implication can be greater than just messing with a person’s map on their phone. 

CAPKUN: Another example is that you are able to access certain confidential information of a company because you are at company premises or within a company’s campus. These are different access controled policies that now one can build on top of that.

TED MORGAN: It’s certainly interesting, but it is not a system threating analysis whatsoever.

That’s Ted Morgan the CEO of Boston-based Skyhook. He says the methods used by the researchers lack practicality.

MORGAN: They’re basically isolating a certain part of how wireless signals work and saying they’ve got it to work this one-to-two times provided all these other issues were to happen.

Meanwhile, Apple’s Swiss office declined to comment on the security claims of the researchers. A representative there did reiterate that the I-phone is not officially available in the country.

Alex Helmick, World Radio Switzerland