The passcode on an iPhone is thought to be a very secure method of keeping the device hidden from others. The system of the tech giant is so safe that it protects the data of the device if the phone is locked, and in the event that the device is stolen, it is almost hard to readily access or take data or money without being traced. Yet word just broke that hackers now possess the key to unlock the device and retrieve the required data.
According to a recent Wall Street Journal investigation, hackers have been employing a startlingly simple technique where they simply wait as iPhone owners enter their passcodes. Once they have their target’s iPhones and digital lives in their memory, the thieves steal them.
According to reports, a 31-year-old senior economist at a startup in workforce intelligence lost all the images, notes, and contacts on her iPhone 13 Pro Max after it was stolen from her hand in a pub in Midtown Manhattan. She then said that within a 24-hour period, she had lost roughly $10,000 from her bank account.
“Using just the iPhone and its passcode, a trespasser can reset the password linked with the iPhone owner’s Apple ID in seconds.” The victim’s account, including everything stored in the iCloud, gets locked out in this fashion by the thieves.
The report continued, “The thief can frequently steal the phone’s financial apps because the passcode can allow access to all of the device’s saved passwords.”
When the software has finished changing the password on the stolen device, it will give the user the choice to force the change on other Apple ecosystem devices, such as Macs and iPads. This will sign the user out of their Apple account, making it impossible to recover access to their accounts. Before setting a new password, the Apple programme never asks the user to enter an older one.
After changing the password, the burglar can manually turn off “Find My iPhone,” rendering the device unusable. The most secure consumer mobile device is the iPhone, according to an Apple spokeswoman, and “we work relentlessly every day to safeguard all of our users from new and emerging threats.”
The representative was cited as saying, “We sympathise with individuals who have had this experience and we take all attacks on our users extremely seriously, no matter how uncommon.” “We will continuously improving the safeguards to assist maintain the security of user accounts.”
As previously reported, the majority of victims indicated that their phones had been taken while they were out at night mingling in public locations like bars and pubs. In every instance, it was reported that the iPhone users had been locked out of their Apple accounts.
The story continued, “They then found thousands of dollars in financial thefts, including a mix of Apple Pay charges, depleted bank accounts tied to phone apps, and money taken through PayPal’s Venmo and other money-sending apps.” The same vulnerability has been seen in Google’s Android mobile Platform, but according to law enforcement experts, iPhones are a much more prevalent target due to their higher resale value.
A Google representative was reported as saying, “Our sign-in and account-recovery procedures strive to strike a compromise between allowing legitimate users to retain access to their accounts in real-world settings and keeping the bad actors out. Apple recently made it possible to employ hardware security keys, which are tiny USB dongles, to protect the Apple ID.
