iOS 6.1.3 security flaw allows passcode lock bypass... again [VIDEO]

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iOS 6.1.3 has only just been released by Apple, and already a security hole has been followed - allowing anyone to bypass the passcode lock on iPhones, and access private data on the device.

Embarrassingly for the Cupertino company, one of the main reasons for installing iOS 6.1.3 was that it promised to fix other security flaws that allowed the lock screen to be bypassed.

The flaw was found by "videosdebarraquito", who seems to be making a hobby of embarrassing Apple by uncovering lock bypass flaws. In a video he demonstrates that it's not particularly complicated to avoid the iOS 6.1.3 passcode lock if you have physical access to the device and a widget for removing the SIM card.

Here is videosdebarraquito's video, where he demonstrates how the passcode can be bypassed:

It appears that circumventing the passcode lock can allow an unauthorised party access to the device's photo gallery and use the phone.

The good news is that this security flaw can be easily prevented. The passcode bypass relies upon use of the "Voice Dial" feature of iPhones, which is disabled on devices using Apple's Siri voice recognition feature.

If you *aren't* using Siri, then the recommendation is to disable "Voice Dial". If you do that, your device shouldn't be prone to this passcode bypass.

You can disable "Voice Dial" on your iPhone by going to Settings / General / Passcode Lock. (Note that if you have Siri enabled you won't see an option for "Voice Dial" there, as it has been automatically disabled).

Easy as it is to avoid this flaw putting your iDevice at risk, it's still embarrassing for Apple as it comes so soon after other passcode lock bypasses were publicised.

Let's hope that Apple fixes this flaw soon, and shuts a permanent door on passcode lock bypasses.

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Pirate Party censored from helping people bypass Pirate Bay block

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The Pirate Bay and Pirate Party are big news recently, and the Dutch courts have turned on the spotlight on the issues of censorship, internet freedom and copyright infringement with this week's court rulings.

A court in The Hague has ruled that Dutch internet providers - UPC, KPN, Tele2, T-Mobile, and Telfort - follow the lead of dutch ISP big dogs, Ziggo and XS4ALL, and block users from accessing one of the world's biggest file-sharing sites, The Pirate Bay.

The court has also ordered that the Pirate Party, a political party in favour of free sharing of information and data, remove all links and workaround instructions on how to bypass the ISP block on The Pirate Bay.

The Dutch Pirate Party has been providing information and links to its visitors to help them circumvent the recent Pirate Bay ISP blocks.

Copyright lobby group BREIN foundation, a trade body looking after the interests of the Dutch recording industry, made the case that The Pirate Bay allowed file sharing without authors' consent. It then went after the Pirate Party for providing links to get around The Pirate Bay block.

The Pirate Party has been ordered by the courts "to cease & desist presenting direct links to other The Pirate Bay dedicated proxies".

An official Dutch Pirate Party article states:

Direct links to reverse proxies appear to be forbidden everywhere for the Pirate Party now, and on top of that, tpb.piratenpartij.nl is no longer allowed to hold any information, or even links to information, on how to circumvent the block. With copyright at its side, BREIN has been successful in literally censoring a political party from giving information on how to circumvent censorship itself.

The Dutch Pirate Party says that it is analysing the verdict to decide on its next steps, but that it now must comply with the ruling, "albeit under loud protest."

The post invites donations from its supporters to meet the €10,000 fine, should they want to see the site ignore the court ruling.

The Pirate Bay, which has an estimated 30+ million users, is designed to allow users to freely share files using torrents and peer-to-peer networks. The objective of block order is to limit access to the site's four-million-plus torrents of movies, music and TV shows.

You might expect the number of torrents to decrease after the initial court-ordered Pirate Bay blocks that ISPs Ziggo and XS4ALL put in place. But University of Amsterdam researchers demonstrated that the blocks has had no impact on the number of BitTorrent pirates.

The Pirate Bay also said that they received a surge of traffic when bans were put in place.

UK ISPs - Virgin, Sky, Everything Everywhere, TalkTalk and O2 - faced similar orders last week.

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file sharing image courtesy of Shutterstock
Dutch flag image courtesy of Shutterstock

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