UPDATED 06:22 EDT / SEPTEMBER 20 2013

NEWS

iOS 7 Security Bug Renders New iPhones Vulnerable to Hijacking

If you haven’t updated your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to iOS 7, you might want to hold off in doing so, at least until a new security bug has been fixed.

According to Jose Rodriguez, someone who has a knack for finding bugs in iOS, you can easily bypass the security of an iOS 7-updated device by accessing the Control Center.

First, be sure that a passcode is in place.  Then on the Lock Screen, access the Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen.  You will then see the Control Center.

There are four icons at the bottom, the flashlight, the timer, the calculator and the camera. Tap on the timer app, once open, hold down the power/sleep button of your device then, so the option to shutdown the device appears.  Tap the cancel button and then double click the Home button, letting the second click linger longer, to access the multitasking screen.  This would now allow you to access stored photos and share them on social sites like Facebook, Twitter or Flickr.

Apple is aware of the bug and stated that “Apple takes user security very seriously.  We are aware of this issue, and will deliver a fix in a future software update.”

Fanbois have camped outside Apple Stores days prior to Apple’s announcement of the two devices.  The iPhone 5s and 5c are officially going on sale today and Rodrigues believes that the bug also exists on them.

I’ve tried the bypassing trick on my iPhone 4S which is already updated with iOS 7 and it doesn’t seem to be working.  After tapping on cancel and clicking on the Home button twice, it either does nothing, return to the Lock Screen, or access Siri if I linger on the second click too long.  It was reported that the those using an iPhone 5 and 4 are the ones affected by the bug.

If you’ve tried out the bypass trick and it worked for you, of course you wouldn’t want others to be able to do that to your device, right?  The best thing you can do is to remove access to your Control Center from the lock screen.  You can do that by going to Settings, then Control Center, then turn off Access on Lock Screen.

If you’re still feeling a bit lost or confused when using iOS 7, check out How To Use iOS 7: A Quick Tutorial.

In other Apple security news, two researchers, ‘GG’ and Cyril ‘Pod2G‘ Cattiaux of firm Quarkslab, claim that Apple has the capability to intercept iMessages.  Before you panic, there’s no evidence that Apple is doing so, the researchers stated that it could, not that they are.

The two discovered a method to perform a man-in-the-middle (MITM) attack, which can intercept these messages and allow them to be read, despite the encryption used by Apple.

But in a statement regarding the iMessage, Apple stated that “Apple cannot decrypt that data. Similarly, we do not store data related to customers’ location, Map searches or Siri requests in any identifiable form.”

The researchers also went on to say that the iMessage protocol is strong, one that is not easily cracked, unless you’re Apple or the NSA.

Fool’s Gold?

Also, if you’re looking to purchase an iPhone 5s in gold you might find yourself leaving the store with your head hanging low as sources claimed that the gold version is in short supply. If you can wait, you can order your gold iPhone 5s on line but you’ll have to wait until October to get your hands on it, as the delivery page states that the device will be available for shipping next month.

The black and silver are currently available and ships within 1-3 business days on AT&T, Sprint and Verizon, while longer, 7-10 business days, on T-Mobile.


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