New iOS 6.1 Lock Screen Bug Poses Security Threat To iPhone's File System
February 26, 2013
If you think iOS 6.1 has had more than its fair share of issues, think again.
A new lock screen bug has been discovered in the already bug-ridden version of Apple's mobile operating system.
The new bug, which was first reported by Ars Technica, entails a rather involved method similar to the trick required for the first iOS 6.1 lock screen bug discovered two weeks ago.
Basically, both lock screen vulnerabilities are arrived at by making and immediately canceling an emergency call on an iPhone and holding down the device's power button.
But while the previous bug can provide an intruder access to your iPhone’s Phone app, contacts, voice mail, and photos, the new bug can do much worse.
If you can't see the video embedded above, please click here.
Apparently, as shown in the video above, it can provide an intruder access to your iPhone's file system after causing your device to go blank save for its status bar.
But as noted by The Next Web, this is possible only if the computer used to gain access to your file system has been successfully connected to your iPhone before.
You see, the file system is in fact encrypted. So, when your passcode-protected iPhone is connected to a new computer, it must first be unlocked before it can be accessed by the computer.
In any case, this is already the second security flaw discovered in iOS 6.1.
Apple has already promised to fix the first flaw in a future software update. Clearly, the iDevice maker should also acknowledge this second flaw and start working on a fix for it.
