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iOS 10: Apple confirms major security flaw in iPhone software

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Community Champion (Retired)
Community Champion (Retired)

Apple has confirmed a major security flaw could be affecting iPhones and iPads running iOS 10.

The tech giant says it is aware of the issue which could leaves devices open to being hacked and user passwords being cracked.

In a statement to Forbes, the company has confirmed it is urgently working on a fix.

It is thought that only iOS 10 is affected.

A spokesperson for Apple told Forbes: “We’re aware of an issue that affects the encryption strength for backups of devices on iOS 10 when backing up to iTunes on the Mac or PC. We are addressing this issue in an upcoming security update. This does not affect iCloud backups.”

“We recommend users ensure their Mac or PC are protected with strong passwords and can only be accessed by authorised users. Additional security is also available with FileVault whole disk encryption.”

The flaw was discovered after an investigation by Russian cyber security firm, Elcomsoft, which develops software and other programs it says can bypass the major security protections on iPhones and iPads.

While attempting to upgrade some of its software, Elcomsoft claim they found that backups of iTunes made by a user who has already updated to iOS 10 are saved using a new password security mechanism which skips a number of security checks present in previous iOS versions.

If a hacker was able to obtain any of these backup files, they could potentially use Elcomsoft’s software to easily crack the password of an iPhone running iOS 10.

Elcomsoft concluded that while iPhones are very secure, flaws in iOS 10 mean that Apple’s operating system is somewhat of a weak link.

 

Source: ThaiRath

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