German researchers bypass iPhone password in six minutes
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So much for feeling safe when you lose an iPhone, even if it’s locked. German researchers were able to coax the password out of the Apple device in just six minutes.
In a new report and video, Jens Heider and Matthias Boll of the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology show how to make speedy work of hacking the smartphone, which has posed little challenge in the past to users trying to bypass Apple’s security barriers.
For the password snatch to work, an attacker needs to hold the physical iPhone and must first jailbreak the device. But soon after, e-mail, Wi-Fi, corporate VPN and WLAN passwords are all at risk, the researchers said.
And that could open the door to bugs and viruses. Cybersecurity firm McAfee Inc. said Tuesday that mobile malware jumped 46% in 2010, resulting in about 55,000 new threats daily.
-- Tiffany Hsu [follow]
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