Apple iPhone lock screen bypass discovered, devices with iOS 10.2 Beta to iOS 8.0 affected

There is another iOS lockscreen bypass method out in the wild now. YouTube channels EverythingApplePro and iDeviceHelp disclosed the method in videos on their respective channels. The method allows the lock screen of the device to by bypassed, and gives access to contacts, messages and photos. https://twitter.com/e_kaspersky/status/799580171887968256 The bypass works on iPhones that have enabled Siri on the lock screen. To execute the bypass, you need to start by calling the phone that needs to be compromised. If you do not know the number of the phone, this cab be obtained by bringing up Siri and asking “Who am I?” to get the phone number of the user. Then, the phone needs to be called on Facetime, or a regular call. Respond to the call by tapping on “Message”, and then “Custom.”

Siri needs to be activated now, and the command “turn on voice over” given. Double tap on the contact bar, and on the keyboard at the same time. This is a fiddly manoeuvre and may take a number of attempts to work. Then activate Siri again, and give the command “turn off voice over.” That is it, now you have access to contacts, messages and photos.

This is a pretty big security hole, and it means that the iPhone 4S, which is no longer getting software updates from Apple, will receive a security update because of this disclosure. The update is expected to be iOS 9.3.6. https://twitter.com/iDeviceHelpus/status/798771820706942976 There have been up to 25 iOS lock screen bypasses methods discovered so far. With passing time, the discovery of such bypass methods is getting increasingly rare.