Jose Rodriguez, a 36-year-old soldier living in Spain's Canary Islands has found a vulnerability in iOS 7's security that allows anyone to bypass a phone's lockscreen in a matter of seconds allowing access to photos, e-mail, Faceboo, Twitter and much more. The technique can be seen in the video below.
In order to unlock an iOS 7 device, users need only to swipe up on the lockscreen to access the iPhone's new Control Center. Then, the user opens the alarm clock option. From here simply hold the phone's sleep button until it prompts you to either turn off the device or cancel the shut down. Hit cancel, after that you should be able to double click the home button to enter the phone's multitasking screen. This will offer access to its camera and stored photos along with the ability to share those photos from the user's accounts, which, according to Forbes, allows anyone who grabs the phone a chance to hijack the owner's personal items.
This hack comes just before the release of the iPhone 5S, which the company boasts as the most secure smartphone on the market. With its new Touch ID sensor, users can now put a finger to the Home Button and have the device scan it in order to let the user in. The iPhone 5S comes with the new iOS 7 which doesn't bode well for its desired reputation as the most secure phone on the market.
A spokesperson for Apple said the company "takes user security very seriously. We are aware of this issue, and will deliver a fix in a future software update." Until then, users would be wise to keep their iPhone and iPad where they can see it to ensure it doesn't fall victim to this hack.
Try it on your phone and see if it works. Comment and share your thoughts below. We attempted it on an iPhone 4S but couldn't bring up the Multitasking menu. How about you?
