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O Wall Street Journal exposed a security flaw in the Apple ID, which is the of Apple used to access all company devices and services. This vulnerability allows criminals and scammers, using social engineering to obtain the iPhone's screen unlock code, to change the Apple ID , blocking the victim's access to their own contents stored in the cloud. v4q52
As reported, several stories of similar thefts are appearing across the US. The most impressive thing is that it is not a technologically specialized gang, the criminals are just taking advantage of a simple vulnerability in the iPhone's security system.
According to reported stories, after the theft of his cell phone, in about 3 minutes the did not have access to his Apple and all the functionalities related to it, in the following 24 hours he noticed money moving out of his bank and other monetary transactions.
How does theft happen? 6o5u2q
As reported, most cases are happening in a similar way. Victims say they were socializing on a walk at night until they missed their respective devices, in some cases they reported that the devices were snatched from their hands by people they had just met.
Generally, stolen s had their apple blocked and after a few hours they discovered that considerable amounts of money had been withdrawn from their bank and other financial transactions had been carried out, possibly through their own telephone sets.
To do this, criminals are taking advantage of an easily accessible vulnerability present in the software design of most iPhones. The entire procedure takes place through the access code, the sequence of numbers defined by the to access your device. Having access to these numbers, he has full access to the device, including s, Apple settings, iCloud and more.
The criminals' method is supposedly to socialize with victims until they gain knowledge of their device's lock screen code, spying each time the victim uses the smartphone. After obtaining such knowledge, the criminal steals the device and uses the code to change the access s, blocking the 's access to his Apple .
Apple's positioning 5e1wt
In response to instances of security breaches in the Apple ID, an Apple representative informed the Wall Street Journal that:
We sympathize with s who have had this experience and we take all attacks on our s very seriously, no matter how rare they are…
We will continue to advance protections to help keep s safe.
Apple Spokesperson
However, the company has not yet reported more specific details of what its next updates would be to improve security on its devices.
Extra security 5fe4r
As cases of theft are related to numerical s, s of the Face ID ou touch ID may believe they are outside of these risks. However, when these iOS security systems fail, the device requests the -defined , either to access the device or to access some apps. Of course, we cannot predict whether or when we will be stolen, but we can make it difficult for criminals to access our devices and apps through a few simple procedures:
- Cover the screen in public: According to investigations of cases that are happening in the US, criminals can learn people's s, so an important tip is to hide the screen when entering your .
- strengthen : Using s with 6 digits or more makes them stronger. If you prefer, you can add — in addition to numbers — letters to the , making it even more complex and difficult to easily.
- Additional protection: Some applications allow you to add an extra to be accessed. This is another important mechanism to prevent access to apps if the criminal has gained access to the device. It is important to that this extra must be different from the one used to access the device.
Check out the original report from Wall Street Journal:
Source: Wall Street Journal, DepositPhotos.
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