A leading digital forensics expert has warned that security features on Apple's iPhone were proving a boon for criminals.

The head of the Serious Fraud Office digital forensics unit Keith Foggon said the ability to remotely wipe the iPhone could be exploited by lawbreakers. He said that since the 3G iPhone was new there were not many tools for dealing with it and it can be remotely wiped.

Coppers can confiscate a criminal's iPhone only to find that when they have taken it to the station for a rigorous checking someone has called the phone and wiped all the evidence. Foggon said that for this reason coppers isolate the devices immediately and never reconnect them to any network.

He said that the shift away from PCs towards mobile devices is posing an increasing headache for the digital forensics teams.

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