iPhone Passcode Flaw Already Addressed for Future Firmware Update?

[MacRumors]

http://www.macrumors.com/images/macrumorsthreadlogo.gif (http://www.macrumors.com)

Gizmodo publicizes (http://gizmodo.com/5042332/huge-iphone-security-flaw-puts-all-private-information-at-risk) a security flaw that was publicly posted (http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=551617) last night to MacRumors' Discussion Forum (http://forums.macrumors.com/). The vulnerability allows individuals to easily bypass the built-in passcode protection offered by Apple to lock your iPhone.

The workaround allows unauthorized individuals access to the iPhone's Safari, Contacts list, SMS, Maps, and Mail.

MacRumors has been told that this security flaw was already reported to Apple earlier this month and has been acknowledged as an issue. A fix will presumably be included in a future firmware update.

Update: A simple fix is available in the meanwhile. Users should set their "Home Button" double-click preference to "Home" or "iPod" rather than the default "iPhone Favorites".

Article Link (http://www.macrumors.com/2008/08/27/iphone-passcode-flaw-already-addressed-for-future-firmware-update/)

[thecartoonguy]

Let's hope sooner than later

[Mindflux]

Let's hope sooner than later

Why? For all those 'h4x0rs' you let use your phone?
:rolleyes:

[arian19]

who hacked my iphone?

[mogzieee]

Sounds like someone at Apple reads Mac Rumors Discussions and Gizmodo...

[Mykbibby]

Not a big deal in my eyes... If some hacker gets your phone, believe me, a passcode isn't stopping them.

[Beric]

Sounds like someone at Apple reads Mac Rumors Discussions...

I believe a ton of Apple employees do. We get heard, believe it or not. That's why Arn gets all of the CAD letters on removing leaked photos.

[twoodcc]

well i'm glad to see that Apple is already working on this. hopefully they'll fix it soon

[Masquerade]

OMG and these guys are working in server-OSses :X

[dvkid]

Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

Really? Because I don't have a pass-code on my iPhone at the moment. Just don't let random folks use your phone?

Gotta love the AOL bloggers and their TimeWarner craziness.

[Niiro13]

Sounds like someone at Apple reads Mac Rumors Discussions and Gizmodo...

I believe a ton of Apple employees do. We get heard, believe it or not. That's why Arn gets all of the CAD letters on removing leaked photos.

Yup...they're just not allowed to post, right? I thought I read that somewhere on this forum.


Anyway, if this passcode was already being addressed, wouldn't it have come out? Is it not a simple override of the double tapping of the home button when on the passcode screen?

[aardwolf]

I don't even lock my phone... And if I did, I've read that setting your double-click home action to actually go to the home page will prevent this exploit from working.

[Clayne]

Yup...they're just not allowed to post, right?

Probably. I bet they're reading this right now, laughing.

And I bet they get a lot of laughs watching us try and guess what's coming out, including all the bizarre things we think of.

[gcmexico]

I just tried it...yep security flaw...thanks macrumors:D

[m4c1nt05h]

"iPhone users who want to guard against this flaw have a really simple solution - in (Settings) General access the Home Button Settings, and switch double-clicking from 'Phone Favorites' (default) to iPod. " - taken from 9to5mac.com

why didn't macrumors post this?

[pavvento]

Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

Really? Because I don't have a pass-code on my iPhone at the moment. Just don't let random folks use your phone?

Gotta love the AOL bloggers and their TimeWarner craziness.

I don't think the security concern is having random people use your phone. I think its for the very realistic scenario where your phone might be lost or stolen. Your company (for people on exchange) would most probably want to do a remote wipe immediately, but if someone has the phone and open access they can get to your information before it's cleared out.

For a company hoping to get its phone into the corporate world this is a HUGE oversight.

[thejadedmonkey]

MacRumors has been told that this security flaw was already reported to Apple earlier this month and has been acknowledged as an issue. A fix will presumably be included in a future firmware update.

Doesn't mean anything. I've submitted bugs to Apple before, and they've been acknowledged, but then thrown out as "intended behavior". I would assume they'd fix it, but still.... don't count your chickens before they hatch!

[Snowcat001]

I believe a ton of Apple employees do. We get heard, believe it or not. That's why Arn gets all of the CAD letters on removing leaked photos.

The real question is... who on MacRumors is an Apple employe???
We should have a poll about this :D:D
: Who do you think, on this forum, is an apple employe?

:)

[mBox]

"iPhone users who want to guard against this flaw have a really simple solution - in (Settings) General access the Home Button Settings, and switch double-clicking from 'Phone Favorites' (default) to iPod. " - taken from 9to5mac.com

why didn't macrumors post this?Funny thing is I did this weeks ago not knowing about the flaw ;)

[AnthonyKinyon]

Does this affect iPod Touch at all? I wouldn't think so given that it's not a phone. :)

[towlieban]

I've got news for you guys. Last week, I set a passcode and forgot it. Since my phone is jailbroken (I'm on 2.0.1) and has ssh installed, I did some research and found 2 things that need to be changed to completely disable the passcode and it's surprisingly easy. If anyone wants these instructions then let me know

[jtshaw]

I don't think the security concern is having random people use your phone. I think its for the very realistic scenario where your phone might be lost or stolen. Your company (for people on exchange) would most probably want to do a remote wipe immediately, but if someone has the phone and open access they can get to your information before it's cleared out.

For a company hoping to get its phone into the corporate world this is a HUGE oversight.

For what its worth... if you connect to exchange with your iPhone and you lose it you should probably go ahead and change your exchange password asap...

Of course, then you might have to deal with the annoyance of some guy locking your corp. account because he keeps trying to mess with your work e-mail but fails password auth, but it is better then having sensitive data leaked.

[Matthew Yohe]

I've got news for you guys. Last week, I set a passcode and forgot it. Since my phone is jailbroken (I'm on 2.0.1) and has ssh installed, I did some research and found 2 things that need to be changed to completely disable the passcode and it's surprisingly easy. If anyone wants these instructions then let me know

product-security@apple.com

[dagamer34]

It's not a security flaw if it depends on a user's stupidity, FYI

[Sijmen]

It's not a security flaw if it depends on a user's stupidity, FYI

Uh, what? What's so stupid about setting a passcode and leaving the other settings at their defaults?

[rhett7660]

This is very interesting..... Thanks for the update.

[LEStudios]

I just did it but MY setting for hitting Home Button twice is set to iPod, but the option is for Favorites. If anyone is that scared then set you Home Button option to iPod for the time being till the update! :cool:

[wongulous]

Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

Really? Because I don't have a pass-code on my iPhone at the moment. Just don't let random folks use your phone?

Gotta love the AOL bloggers and their TimeWarner craziness.

I agree with your point of sensationalism, but you realize that it's Engadget that is partnered with AOL-TimeWarner, not Gizmodo, right? They have no affiliation.

Gizmodo is a part of Gawker Media, though, and right now they are being sponsored by Verizon--who I am sure is proud to present iPhone flaws.

[macduke]

I agree with your point of sensationalism, but you realize that it's Engadget that is partnered with AOL-TimeWarner, not Gizmodo, right? They have no affiliation.

Gizmodo is a part of Gawker Media, though, and right now they are being sponsored by Verizon--who I am sure is proud to present iPhone flaws.

Are you serious? Gizmodo, along with Engadget are some of the most pro-Apple websites online. And you know why? Because it drives page views. Tons of Apple users flood their site and view the related articles. Gizmodo has tons of sponsors. I'm pretty sure I've seen Mac vs PC ads on there before. And microsoft. They don't care a whole lot about the content they publish with regard to how it relates to sponsors. I'm sure it's in the agreements they've made. Besides, Gizmodo never turns downan oppurtunity to rip a company a new one. But overall they are pro Apple, especially Jesus Diaz's posts. He is in love with his iPhone.

[xix]

"iPhone users who want to guard against this flaw have a really simple solution - in (Settings) General access the Home Button Settings, and switch double-clicking from 'Phone Favorites' (default) to iPod. " - taken from 9to5mac.com

why didn't macrumors post this?

Because these sites make money by posting links to each other and getting their click counts and ad views up. That's why this is on page 1.

Welcome to MacRumors, and the internet.

[imods]

I've got news for you guys. Last week, I set a passcode and forgot it. Since my phone is jailbroken (I'm on 2.0.1) and has ssh installed, I did some research and found 2 things that need to be changed to completely disable the passcode and it's surprisingly easy. If anyone wants these instructions then let me know

Yes I would love to know. mods.29a@gmail.com

Thanks!

[Wolfpup]

Great news that Apple's quickly acknowledged it and is working on an update! IMO security flaws are less of a huge deal than what a company does after a flaw is discovered.

[ajbrehm]

Not a big deal in my eyes... If some hacker gets your phone, believe me, a passcode isn't stopping them.

Hehe. Just a while ago I wrote here in the forums that i cannot understand why Apple don't encrypt the iPhone's storage and everybody told me that that was unnecessary since the passcode alone protects the data well enough.

And now that it has been revealed that the passcode doesn't protect anything, it turns out that it is not a big deal, since a passcode wouldn't stop anyone anyway.

I vote for on-disk encryption again. Why didn't Apple include that feature?

[craigverse]

Fancy. I have my home button set for ipod though. That way I was able to replace the ipod icon on the iphone dock with settings. It doesn't matter though, I don't use the password. -_-

[ilfn143]

i had passcode on iphone, when update to 2.02 it crashes and was on recovery. click recover and failed. called apple told me to create new user name in windows xp, launch itunes, plug my iphone in and it download 2.02 software. when all done my phone was like brand new, no passcode, life time usage was reset to 0.

[andiwm2003]

wow, the comments on this thread can't be more stupid. maybe it's all the 13 year olds who get their phone paid by daddy and who don't have privacy concerns because they don't work and spend their time on myspace:rolleyes:

a lot of people need to leave their phone in their office while on a meeting, in a different work place, a laboratory or so. also you need to give your phone to security if you want to enter a company sometimes. in those cases it's not that the colleagues or security is going to professionally hack your phone. but if it's that easy they might just sniff around your contacts and e-mails. who want's that?

there are many examples where others get access to your phone (without you being stupid) and where light security is enough to prevent people seeing your privat and corporate mail/contacts. the passcode is for those situations.

so stop making stupid remarks like "we don't need a passcode anyway because a pro can hack it" or "your dumb for letting others use your phone!!11!!!". :rolleyes:

[towlieban]

product-security@apple.com

why would I email apple ???

This fix depends on you running a jailbroken iPhone with ssh,neither of which is supported by apple to begin with. It's not a bug or exploit. It's a hack based
on being able to access the underlying os via ssh.

[kyrow123]

Ignorance is not a security control.

[imods]

why would I email apple ???

This fix depends on you running a jailbroken iPhone with ssh,neither of which is supported by apple to begin with. It's not a bug or exploit. It's a hack based
on being able to access the underlying os via ssh.

Ok, but would you please post the instructions? Thanks again!

MoDs

[BigD58]

Not a big deal in my eyes... If some hacker gets your phone, believe me, a passcode isn't stopping them.

Exactly i could care less that someone got pass the passcode. Because I could gaurantee you that they are not going to be like "oh i could'nt figure out the code so heres your phone back"

[The Tall One]

People gotta stop stealing from other people man. Go to school man. Get an education man. Quit stealin my ***** man.

[grayskies]

Hehe. Just a while ago I wrote here in the forums that i cannot understand why Apple don't encrypt the iPhone's storage and everybody told me that that was unnecessary since the passcode alone protects the data well enough.

And now that it has been revealed that the passcode doesn't protect anything, it turns out that it is not a big deal, since a passcode wouldn't stop anyone anyway.

I vote for on-disk encryption again. Why didn't Apple include that feature?

also, if passcode is on and call is received the phone bypasses passcode and after call user has access to phone

[bdkennedy1]

How does a billionaire like Steve that uses the phone all the time with sensitive information on it not realize a flaw like this?

[supremedesigner]

Cool! I was able to surf on Safari and check google map as well even though I didn't put my passcode. Interesting....

[rizajj]

Am I correct in understanding that we are all commenting on a MacRumors post that references a Gizmodo post, which in turn references a MacRumors forum posting as its original source?

Just want to make sure I'm getting this right.

[NerveGas]

The passcode can be easily bypassed without this technique, simply by deleting the com.apple.SpringBoard.plist file from the phone. This can be done with a custom firmware package, such as the ones you can build with Pwnage. Details for both 1.x and 2.x passcode cracks have been available to law enforcement for quite some time, and are published in my new book iPhone Forensics (http://www.amazon.com/iPhone-Forensics-Recovering-Evidence-Corporate/dp/0596153589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219426549&sr=1-1)

[Niiro13]

Am I correct in understanding that we are all commenting on a MacRumors post that references a Gizmodo post, which in turn references a MacRumors forum posting as its original source?

Just want to make sure I'm getting this right.

I wonder why Mac Rumors didn't reference the original post directly like it ususally does.

[Wolfpup]

Hehe. Just a while ago I wrote here in the forums that i cannot understand why Apple don't encrypt the iPhone's storage and everybody told me that that was unnecessary since the passcode alone protects the data well enough.

And now that it has been revealed that the passcode doesn't protect anything, it turns out that it is not a big deal, since a passcode wouldn't stop anyone anyway.

I vote for on-disk encryption again. Why didn't Apple include that feature?

I'm sold on it-don't know how CPU intensive it would be for that thing's chip, but I'd guess not too bad.

wow, the comments on this thread can't be more stupid. maybe it's all the 13 year olds who get their phone paid by daddy and who don't have privacy concerns because they don't work and spend their time on myspace:rolleyes:

a lot of people need to leave their phone in their office while on a meeting, in a different work place, a laboratory or so. also you need to give your phone to security if you want to enter a company sometimes. in those cases it's not that the colleagues or security is going to professionally hack your phone. but if it's that easy they might just sniff around your contacts and e-mails. who want's that...

so stop making stupid remarks like "we don't need a passcode anyway because a pro can hack it" or "your dumb for letting others use your phone!!11!!!". :rolleyes:

Nooo kidding, to pick on this one...

Exactly i could care less that someone got pass the passcode. Because I could gaurantee you that they are not going to be like "oh i could'nt figure out the code so heres your phone back"

I don't care if I get the phone back. I mean that would be nice, but the phone is worth infinitesimally less than the data on the phone. Hopefully if it's properly encrypted with real, strong encryption, they'll just give up and wipe the phone, so all you're out is $600 or whatever for the phone itself.

[orbea847]

Locks only keep honest people honest. If somebody wants it bad enough they will get it.

[jeremy.king]

OMG!OMG!

If "hackers" have access to my computer, they can reset root and have at all the information on it.

If "hackers" have access to my wallet, they can steal credit card numbers and cash

If "hackers" have access to my phone...well, hopefully, you get the point.

Physical access to any device/computer/wallet is a bad thing. A passcode (even if it did work) won't deter anyone with ill intent.

[Wolfpup]

Locks only keep honest people honest. If somebody wants it bad enough they will get it.

OMG!OMG!

If "hackers" have access to my computer, they can reset root and have at all the information on it.

If "hackers" have access to my wallet, they can steal credit card numbers and cash

If "hackers" have access to my phone...well, hopefully, you get the point.

Physical access to any device/computer/wallet is a bad thing. A passcode (even if it did work) won't deter anyone with ill intent.

It will if it's backed up with strong encryption.

[jeremy.king]

It will if it's backed up with strong encryption.

I can't encrypt my wallet and even strong encryption gets broken - remember when 40 bit crypto was considered "strong?"

[Wolfpup]

I can't encrypt my wallet and even strong encryption gets broken - remember when 40 bit crypto was considered "strong?"

It was never really considered strong. And so far strong encryption has apparently remained unbroken for at least a decade.

[djdole]

Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

Really? Because I don't have a pass-code on my iPhone at the moment. Just don't let random folks use your phone?

Gotta love the AOL bloggers and their TimeWarner craziness.

and if you LOSE you iPhone? The passcode is supposed to be there to PREVENT access by unauthorized individuals.
But if you have your home-button double click set to your favorites, anyone who finds your phone could just [Slide] > [Emergency Call] > [Double Click] to prank, harass your favorites. Let alone impersonate you (ID theft) via caller ID.

[davidgrimm]

I use the passcode on my phone simply to restrict a thief or someone who finds it from using it. Most thieves are NOT hackers and will not know how to defeat this. Sure, they could look it up, but if they wanted to actually do that much work, they would likely have a job...

I don't mind if my co-workers and friends know my code, because its not to prevent their use, only someone who finds my lost phone or steals it.

I wish the passcode screen had a message about "if you find this phone, please return it to..."

[spacetycho]

i'll keep it short.

had appointment at the crapple store due to many issues with the iphone.

their so called genius was an ass.

i handed him the phone so he could check it out and he asked for my password.

i said to him, "what's the point of a password if i tell you? give it to me and i'll type it in"

to this he said, "well it doesn't matter anyway I CAN GET IN WITHOUT IT."

this floored me. i was so pissed. after he told me it is normal for my battery to last 2 hours and my phone to freeze and crash i took the phone back and left the store.

after further calls to crapple they replaced my phone last week. we'll see what happens with this one.

[jayducharme]

anyone who finds your phone could just [Slide] > [Emergency Call] > [Double Click] to prank, harass your favorites.

That's it? I only have a few contacts in my favorites, the people I call a lot. They know me really well. If a prankster calls them, they'll be understanding when I explain what happened. And how would the average prankster know enough to double-click the button anyway? Double-clicking does nothing once inside the favorites list. Single-clicking just goes back to the password screen. I don't see the big deal, unless the contacts in the favorites list were important business contacts with important notes written in for contact information. But even then, the prankster wouldn't know your name and so couldn't really impersonate you. This seems a bit blown out of proportion. The impression I got from the introductory paragraph was that the whole iPhone was accessible.

One thing that might pose a problem is that from the favorites you can send text messages to the contacts. A prankster could run up a sizable bill if the iPhone owner doesn't have a text messaging plan.

As for a malicious hacker, I agree with others that if someone wants to hack your iPhone a simple 4-digit password isn't going to prevent anything.

[phatspider]

That's it? I only have a few contacts in my favorites, the people I call a lot. They know me really well. If a prankster calls them, they'll be understanding when I explain what happened. And how would the average prankster know enough to double-click the button anyway? Double-clicking does nothing once inside the favorites list. Single-clicking just goes back to the password screen. I don't see the big deal, unless the contacts in the favorites list were important business contacts with important notes written in for contact information. But even then, the prankster wouldn't know your name and so couldn't really impersonate you. This seems a bit blown out of proportion. The impression I got from the introductory paragraph was that the whole iPhone was accessible.

One thing that might pose a problem is that from the favorites you can send text messages to the contacts. A prankster could run up a sizable bill if the iPhone owner doesn't have a text messaging plan.

As for a malicious hacker, I agree with others that if someone wants to hack your iPhone a simple 4-digit password isn't going to prevent anything.

I just tried it and was very easily able to get from the favourites list into SMS, Mail, Safari & Maps

Doesnt bother me as I dont use a passcode anyway - but I can see why it wold bother those that do

[caliguy]

That's it? I only have a few contacts in my favorites, the people I call a lot. They know me really well. If a prankster calls them, they'll be understanding when I explain what happened. And how would the average prankster know enough to double-click the button anyway? Double-clicking does nothing once inside the favorites list. Single-clicking just goes back to the password screen. I don't see the big deal, unless the contacts in the favorites list were important business contacts with important notes written in for contact information. But even then, the prankster wouldn't know your name and so couldn't really impersonate you. This seems a bit blown out of proportion. The impression I got from the introductory paragraph was that the whole iPhone was accessible.

One thing that might pose a problem is that from the favorites you can send text messages to the contacts. A prankster could run up a sizable bill if the iPhone owner doesn't have a text messaging plan.

As for a malicious hacker, I agree with others that if someone wants to hack your iPhone a simple 4-digit password isn't going to prevent anything.
Basically, the person reading all of your mail is the only thing I can think of that could contain lots of personal information (and SMS' likewise).

This might not be a big deal to some people, but it's a bug that is going to be fixed. Apple isn't screaming about it, we shouldn't either. It'll be fixed. It's not a big deal.

[towlieban]

The passcode can be easily bypassed without this technique, simply by deleting the com.apple.SpringBoard.plist file from the phone. This can be done with a custom firmware package, such as the ones you can build with Pwnage. Details for both 1.x and 2.x passcode cracks have been available to law enforcement for quite some time, and are published in my new book iPhone Forensics (http://www.amazon.com/iPhone-Forensics-Recovering-Evidence-Corporate/dp/0596153589/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1219426549&sr=1-1)

You are wrong about this. At least as of 2.0.1, which I tested thouroughly, if you change the plist, once you press the power button the phone locks itself again because the o.s. detects that theres a password saved in a database where the passwords are kept. This database is an sqlite database. The second step that I previously mentioned before is to delete the password from the database to remove all passcode restrictions. Only then will the passcode lock be remove repeatedly. My instructions (which I will post later tonight) details all of this.

[HowEver]

Do people really think that a 4-digit passcode protects them from anything--I mean, how long does it take to go from 0000 to 9999?

[zephead]

I'm also appalled that getting past the passcode is this easy. I usually only use the passcode if I'm gonna be out somewhere for while, i.e. sporting events or school (starting college in the fall).

So, you all might want to set your home button double-click to "Home", because I just tried the method with "iPod" set as the double-click and it allows access to the iPod app. They can't get to anything else, as far as I know, but setting your home button to "Home" and double-clicking on the emergency call screen just brings you right back to the "Enter Passcode" screen.

[archesdevil]

Just set home button to iPod.

[winterspan]

Huge iPhone Security Flaw Puts All Private Information at Risk

Really? Because I don't have a pass-code on my iPhone at the moment. Just don't let random folks use your phone?

Gotta love the AOL bloggers and their TimeWarner craziness.

I said the same thing. Major sensationalism! Simple PIN-code phone locks have always been nearly worthless. If someone is physically in possession of your phone, there is a pretty good chance they are going to find a way into the system. For real security, iPhones (and other phones) need to use a symmetric-key encryption application. With all the free open-source encryption code out there, why hasn't Apple already made an implementation available on the iPhone? Just priorities or what?

[ajbrehm]

How does a billionaire like Steve that uses the phone all the time with sensitive information on it not realize a flaw like this?

Apple don't have testers.

I have often noticed that.

It's the only explanation for why their software is well-designed but has obvious flaws nonetheless.

A single tester would have noticed immediately that pressing the home button twice in the emergency call screen (which btw can be used to make any call you want and is NOT limited to emergency calls) bypasses the password.

But Apple don't have testers.

That also explains why iWeb's right-to-left script support is broken. A single tester typing Hebrew, Arabic, or Persian would have noticed.

[ajbrehm]

I don't care if I get the phone back. I mean that would be nice, but the phone is worth infinitesimally less than the data on the phone. Hopefully if it's properly encrypted with real, strong encryption, they'll just give up and wipe the phone, so all you're out is $600 or whatever for the phone itself.

Same here.

I made this point in this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=509617

I said:

"I was wondering about losing my iPhone. And at some point I realised that I don't really mind so much buying a new one if I lose mine. More difficult is the fact that my iPhone contains my emails and address book, personal data comparable to what's on my computer rather than a traditional mobile phone."

"Why didn't Apple just encrypt everything???"

End said.


And here are some replies:

"anyway, can you not use, and change often, a 4 digit code?"

"Or you could just do a remote wipe if you lose it. A lot more convenient"

[Note: I don't know how to do that.]

"What difference would the encryption make? Presumably when you enter the code correctly the encryption would be bypassed and the data would be accessible or it'd be difficult to use the phone? In that case, your only real protection is the code (just like it is now) because if someone gets the code they get the data."

[Note: bypassing the code wouldn't allow access to encrypted data which needs the code for decrypting.]

"But your information is already protected by a 4-digit code (if you have that on). If you're actually worried about someone physically taking your iPhone apart, ripping out the flash chips and putting them into some sort of reader to access your data, I hope you've got your underground lair swept for bugs and all your phone lines monitored for wiretaps. Oh, and watch out for the CIA assassins."

[Note: Actually, I do have my underground lair swept for bugs.]

End replies.


And here's the solution I proposed:

1. Encrypt the data with a 10-letter password.

2. Whenever the phone is switched on (from power-off), ask for the 10-letter password.

3. Store the password in memory while the phone is on (or sleeping) and use it to decrypt the data on the fly when the phone is in use.

4. If the phone is switched off (to power-off), lose the password from memory (naturally). If the phone hasn't been used for a (configurable) number of hours, lose the password from memory.

[diamond.g]

Same here.

I made this point in this thread:

http://forums.macrumors.com/showthread.php?t=509617

I said:

"I was wondering about losing my iPhone. And at some point I realised that I don't really mind so much buying a new one if I lose mine. More difficult is the fact that my iPhone contains my emails and address book, personal data comparable to what's on my computer rather than a traditional mobile phone."

"Why didn't Apple just encrypt everything???"

End said.


And here are some replies:

"anyway, can you not use, and change often, a 4 digit code?"

"Or you could just do a remote wipe if you lose it. A lot more convenient"

[Note: I don't know how to do that.]

"What difference would the encryption make? Presumably when you enter the code correctly the encryption would be bypassed and the data would be accessible or it'd be difficult to use the phone? In that case, your only real protection is the code (just like it is now) because if someone gets the code they get the data."

[Note: bypassing the code wouldn't allow access to encrypted data which needs the code for decrypting.]

"But your information is already protected by a 4-digit code (if you have that on). If you're actually worried about someone physically taking your iPhone apart, ripping out the flash chips and putting them into some sort of reader to access your data, I hope you've got your underground lair swept for bugs and all your phone lines monitored for wiretaps. Oh, and watch out for the CIA assassins."

[Note: Actually, I do have my underground lair swept for bugs.]

End replies.


And here's the solution I proposed:

1. Encrypt the data with a 10-letter password.

2. Whenever the phone is switched on (from power-off), ask for the 10-letter password.

3. Store the password in memory while the phone is on (or sleeping) and use it to decrypt the data on the fly when the phone is in use.

4. If the phone is switched off (to power-off), lose the password from memory (naturally). If the phone hasn't been used for a (configurable) number of hours, lose the password from memory.
I agree the device should be encrypted.

The thing I wonder about is how everyone throws out remote wipe, as if everyone that has sensitive information is running Exchange. Somehow I doubt very seriously Apple is using exchange for email. And in that case, how would they ensure sensitive data has been purged from a lost iPhone?

[hayesk]

Yup...they're just not allowed to post, right? I thought I read that somewhere on this forum.


They're not allowed to post representing Apple. I don't think Apple can legally stop their employees from posting if they don't claim to represent Apple. I've seen Apple employees post on other forums before, so I don't think that's a rule.

[ajbrehm]

I agree the device should be encrypted.

Yes. And isn't my idea the obvious solution?


The thing I wonder about is how everyone throws out remote wipe, as if everyone that has sensitive information is running Exchange. Somehow I doubt very seriously Apple is using exchange for email. And in that case, how would they ensure sensitive data has been purged from a lost iPhone?

I was wondering about that. I contacted o2, my phone company, and they didn't know anything about the feature and told me to contact Apple.

[bigmc6000]

Well great - it went mainstream...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080828/tc_nm/apple_security_dc

How about this - don't leave you phone sitting around when you go somewhere. Ya know what they say - the best defense is a good offense ;)

[diamond.g]

Yes. And isn't my idea the obvious solution?



I was wondering about that. I contacted o2, my phone company, and they didn't know anything about the feature and told me to contact Apple.

AFAIK, remote wipe is a feature of both BES and Exchange ActiveSync. All it does is remove all the Exchange data (well what is synced) off the phone. It doesn't actually brick the device (I think the BES version does but I am not positive).

[Mazda 3s]

Why are many people in here so quick to dismiss this flaw and try to pass the buck on to "lazy" iPhone users?

If this had been any other company, people on here would be having a BBQ and passing around fruity wine coolers.

That being said, I'm glad that Apple is working on a fix, although I think they should be getting on this pronto.

[Fastshutter]

I didn't see anyone else mention this, but the passcode work around bug has been fixed with the update.

When I double tap the Home button from the Emergency Call screen, the iPhone returns to the Passcode screen and not my favorites.