iOS 10 passwords cracked 2500 times faster

Ooopsy Apple. Your brand new iPhone is more at risk thanks to iOS 10. This is due to the latest operating system coming with more than a redesigned iMessage and widgets.

Word is that as well, as all the new neat stuff, iOS 10 also ships with a serious design defect that makes it vastly easier to crack password-protected backups.

Moscow-based ElcomSoft discovered the flaw, which is centered around local password-protected iTunes backups.

How to crack iOS 10

On iOS 10, these now have a weak secondary security mechanism that “skips certain security checks”. This makes it possible to launch a brute-force attack – where different passwords are tested until the correct one is identified – up to 2,500 faster than iOS 9.

According to ElcomSoft, this flaw means that it’s possible to test 6 million passwords per second on iOS 10. That’s with using a computer with an Intel Core i5 CPU.

It’s worth emphasising that this exploit can’t be used remotely. The attacker needs to have access to your local backup, which contains everything from media files, to HealthKit and HomeKit data, and more.

So, just keep an eye on that shiny new iPhone 7.