Possibly, but I doubt it -- the automount in 10 did exactly what one expects an automount to do. It's a pretty simple function.
> the fact you can access the device when locked should be of concern...
Depends. If a device has a public portion and a private portion, the fact you can access the public part while the private part is locked is a total "don't care". In fact, that's the desired feature! What matters is whether you can access the private part without the PIN.
And they have NOT yet demonstrated that, nor has anybody on this thread replicated their experiment to see if it is possible. So far all we have is a sensationalist claim in a tech blog. Until somebody replicates their result and displays private locked data without using the PIN, I remain skeptical.
I'm not saying they're lying, mind you. Just saying, they haven't proved anything yet.
The reason you aren't seeing too much hullaballoo about this is that iPhone connectivity IS a new feature of Linux. And it isn't even that new. Back in February, it was reported that It is the result of a specific project to make the iPhone accessible to Linux users.
"It happened thanks to Marcan (and the other fellows) from usbmuxd. The libgpod and GNOME integration is mainly from Bastien Nocera of GNOME and Fedora fame. usbmuxd/gtkpod/libiphone etc. are the one who deserve credits for that.
In addition, the design of the USB connectivity allows access to the PUBLIC portion of the iPhone... pictures, music, podcasts, etc., Later reports say BUT NOT, email, contact lists, notepad notes, apps, favorites, browsing history, etc. You can see the folders, but any contents in those folders is apparently invisible. There is some discussion about whether this can be gotten around or not... and some of the Linux geeks are working on it.
Apple has placed this commentary on their website about iOS4's latest iPhone security for business users:
Securing your data.Device policies, restrictions and strong encryption methods on iPhone provide a layered approach to keeping your information secure. iPhone uses AES 256-bit hardware encryption to protect all data at rest. To further secure mail messages and attachments iPhone uses Data Protection which leverages the unique device passcode to generate the encryption key. And, in the event of a lost or stolen iPhone, all data and settings can be cleared by issuing a remote wipe command from Exchange or a Mobile Device Management server.
What's amazing is that these guys who wrote this article are treating it as a "discovery" when it went around the blogosphere in February when the guys who designed announced it and a lot of Linux iPhone wanna be users were ecstatic about it and its potential for opening up iPhones and iPod touches to them.