Before releasing the iOS white paper this year, Apple was nearly silent about security in the iPhone and iPad.

Atley's appearance was the at a Black Hat conference, organizers said. Apple was scheduled to appear at Black Hat in 2008, but the company's marketing department cancelled at the last minute. "Bottom line -- no one at Apple speaks without marketing approval," Trey Ford, general manager of Black Hat, said.

Apple's silence does not mean it has ignored security. The company has implemented sandboxing and has required third-party app developers to sign their code with an Apple-issued certificate. In addition, only apps vetted by Apple are sold through the company's App Store, which is the only outlet for iPhone and iPad software.

"Our attitude is that security is architecture," De Atley told the Black Hat gathering, the . "You have to build it in from the very beginning. It's not something you can sprinkle over the code at the end."

Apple has more coming on the security front for its mobile devices. The company announced Friday the , which develops and sells security software and hardware for mobile phones, PCs and networks. AuthenTec's products include fingerprint sensors that are integrated into mobile phones.