Hasta La Gadget!

Gaping security holes are a pretty terrifying thing, especially when they involve something as sensitive as your Apple ID. Sadly it seems that immediately after making the paranoid happy by instituting two-step authentication a pretty massive flaw in Cupertino’s system was discovered and first reported by The Verge. Turns out you can reset any Apple ID password with nothing more than a person’s email address and date of birth — two pieces of information that are pretty easy to come across.

There’s a little more to the hack, but it’s simple enough that even your non-tech savvy aunt or uncle could do it. After entering the target email address in the password reset form you can then select to answer security questions to validate your identity. The first task will be to enter a date of birth. If you enter that correctly then paste a particular URL into the address bar (which we will not be publishing for obvious reasons), press enter, then — voilà — instant password reset! Or, at least that’s the story. While we were attempting to verify these claims Apple took down the password reset page for “maintenance.” Though we’ve received no official confirmation from Apple, it seems the company is moving swiftly to shut down this particularly troublesome workaround before word of it spreads too far.

Update: We’ve heard back from Apple on the matter, which stated, “Apple takes customer privacy very seriously. We are aware of this issue, and working on a fix.” No real surprises that a fix is in the works, but there you have it from the horse’s mouth.

Update 2: The forgotten password page is back as of late Friday evening — that was (relatively) quick. iMore reports (and we’ve verified ourselves) that the security hole is now closed.

Filed under: Internet, Apple

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Source: The Verge, iMore

Lock screens are around for a reason: to keep people from getting where they shouldn’t. They aren’t always infallible, though, and a few weeks ago, we saw a vulnerability in several builds of iOS 6 that granted access to the phone module without a passcode. Then, a couple of days ago, we reported on a Galaxy Note II bug that allows the quick-fingered to launch anything immediately behind the lock screen. Now, a similar flaw has been found on the Galaxy S III that breaks the lock screen altogether, permitting full use of the phone. To replicate the bug, you’ll need to tap the “Emergency Call” button on the lock screen, then go into the ICE (emergency contacts) menu. From there, press the home button, followed quickly by the power button, and that’s it. If successful, pressing the power button again will bring up the home screen straight away, and what’s more, the lock screen won’t return until the handset is restarted. Sounds worryingly simple, right? In our experience, not so much.

We first tried this method on an S III running Android 4.0.4 ICS, and a Note II for good measure, but to no avail. Then, we had a crack at an S III running 4.1.2 Jelly Bean, and were close to giving up trying to replicate it when voilà, it worked. We hoped to provide you with a video of the bug, but it must be camera shy. Despite literally hundreds of attempts in front of the lens and several more behind it, we’ve only managed it once — we found it impossible to nail down the correct timing between the home and power button pushes. Samsung’s likely aware of the bug already and when quizzed about the Note II vulnerability, said a fix for lock screen issues on affected “Galaxy devices” was in the works (read: they didn’t say the Note II specifically). We’ve reached out for comment just to be sure, but until a patch is provided, keep your phone concealed from nosey types who read tech sites and have saint-like patience.

Update: Samsung has responded, confirming a fix is indeed on its way:

“Samsung considers user privacy and the security of user data its top priority. We are aware of this issue and will release a fix at the earliest possibility.”

Filed under: Cellphones, Software, Mobile, Samsung

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Via: SlashGear

Source: Full Disclosure

It seems that every time Apple introduces a new version of iOS, it creates some new method to get past the software’s lock screen. A YouTube tutorial reveals the rather simple combination of button presses and fake emergency calls necessary to give you access to anyone’s iDevice — or more specifically to the iOS phone module, from where you can make calls or view and edit contacts. You’ll have to be quick-fingered, however, as you have to push the home button rapidly after getting into the iPhone’s contact list. You can learn how to do it after the break, but until Cupertino issues an update, we’d suggest keeping your beloved fondlephone close by.

Filed under: Apple

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Via: Gizmodo, S1riOS6 (Spanish)

Losing the totality of your digital life can be a mind-boggling experience, which is one of the reasons that I immediately turned on 2-step verification when Google made it available for Google/Gmail accounts. Dropbox finally followed suit and I’m expecting others like PayPal and Amazon to follow as well.

Why should you enable it? If you are using Dropbox to archive some files and your hard drive gets toasted, then it makes sense to protect them as much as possible. 2-step verification means that you add your mobile number to the site, and each time you log into your Dropbox with a new device, you’ll be sent a text message with a verification code that you’ll need to enter so that you can login.

It’s a smart idea to enable this because it’s improbable that your accounts and your mobile phone will be compromised at the same time.

[via Dropbox]

If you’re an iPhone owner, you may want to use good judgment before responding to any out-of-the-blue text messages in the near future. French jailbreak developer and security researcher pod2g finds that every iPhone firmware revision, even iOS 6 beta 4, is susceptible to a flaw that theoretically lets a ne’er-do-well spoof the reply address of outbound SMS messages. As Apple is using the reply-to address of a message’s User Data Header to identify the origin rather than the raw source, receiving iPhone owners risk being fooled by a phishing attack (or just a dishonest acquaintance) that poses as a contact or a company. A proof of concept messaging tool is coming to the iPhone soon, but pod2g is pushing for an official solution before the next iOS version is out the door. We’ve asked Apple for commentary and will get back if there’s an update. In the meantime, we wouldn’t panic — if the trickery hasn’t been a significant issue since 2007, there isn’t likely to be a sudden outbreak today.

Filed under: Cellphones

iPhone reportedly vulnerable to text message spoofing flaw originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Aug 2012 12:53:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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