Friday, 20 September 2013 06:24

Security Flaw Found in iOS 7 that Allows You to ByPass the Lockscreen

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It seems that Apple’s latest and greatest mobile operating system was shipped with a major flaw disguised as a feature. Shortly after the launch of iOS 7 there were the usual reports of bricked phones, problems reactivating the phone once it was installed etc. Most of these are common and more often than not can be traced to user software that is installed including many of the newer mobile device management applications that are in use. However when reports (and videos) started popping up showing how to bypass the lock screen without a password things were not so normal.

 

The “hack” for this is somewhat long and complex, but with all of the videos out there describing who to do it the information will get out. The flaw appears to be centered around a feature that allows you to access some of the more ancillary functions of your iDevice (iPhone or iPad) such as the media player, camera and control center. Once you have performed the correct sequence of events you have access to quite a bit of the user’s information. You can view photos, videos, email, twitter, picasa, Facebook, and other social networking account information. It is not something that should have made if past QA in what Apple is calling their most secure iOS version to date. This is even more true considering that a similar flaw was found in an older version of iOS not that long ago.


The good news is that the feature which allows you access to these items can be shut off access to the control center from the lock screen. Doing this gives you a temporary fix for the problem, but does not solve the core security issue in the OS. Apple says they are working on a fix and will be releasing it in a future update. For now we would recommend that anyone thinking about upgrading to iOS 7 give Apple the time to fix this flaw and a few other more minor bugs before pushing the button. For anyone that already has, make sure you turn off access to the control center from the lock screen.

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Read 2915 times Last modified on Friday, 20 September 2013 06:28

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