How iBroke into an iPad 2

Apple’s Smart Covers are pretty cool, attaching magnetically to the side of your iPad 2. You can lock your iPad’s screen simply by “closing” the cover.  Lifting the cover then opens your iPad awaiting your secured Pin no.

Unfortunately members of the German forum ‘Apfeltalk’ have unveiled a huge security flaw in the way that the iPad responds to the Smart cover.  To trigger the glitch, hold down the power button and wait for the iPad to confirm with the power off slider. When this happens, place the smart cover over the iPad. Next, take the cover off again, cancel the power down and you’re in. No PIN requirements, you simply have full access to the system.

Generally it seems to affect iPads running iOS 5, but it has been discovered that the issue is present on some that are still running iOS 4.3. Although the bug sounds like a security nightmare, it’s not as bad as initially it may seem.  Anyone who triggers this glitch won’t be able to open anything; they’ll only be able to see what apps you’ve got installed and access any Apps that are left open. Albeit some pranksters will realise that they can delete and move around Apps.

Fortunately, Apple is already aware of the issue and working on a fix. For the time being the most obvious resolution is to make it so your iPad doesn’t automatically unlock when you open your Smart Cover; that way, even if someone uses this bypass trick, they’ll only be greeted with the passcode screen.
To change this setting, Open the Settings app, hit General, and change the setting for “iPad Cover Lock/Unlock” to “Off”.

Here’s a video of how it is done:

Posted by Kris Haynes on 10/27 at 01:27 PM