Dallas De Atley, manager of Apple's platform security team, provided little more on Thursday than a review of what Apple had already published in a . His talk is said to have covered topics from the low-level functions of the boot loader and kernel to the code-signing requirements and app permissions.

For some security pros, De Atley's talk was like attending a college freshman course on locking down iOS, the iPhone and iPad's operating system. "I was hoping for more, but it was a bird's-eye overview of what Apple does to secure iOS," Kevin Mitnick, founder of Mitnick Security Consulting, told by email.

Michael Price, chief architect for iOS at mobile security vendor Appthority, agreed that Apple's presentation was too shallow and left unanswered questions about security in the company's overall mobile application platform. "We hope that they will release additional whitepapers, or return to BlackHat next year, to discuss other areas related to the security of their products," he said.

Nevertheless, the fact that Apple discussed product security at all was a welcomed sign that Apple's relationship with the security industry was changing. "It shows that they are concerned about reaching out to the security community, as well as to their users, with regards to security," Price said.