iOS's 'Activation Lock' For Stolen iPads And iPhones Can Be Easily Bypassed (computerworld.com)

An anonymous reader quotes ComputerWorld: Two researchers claim to have found a way to bypass the activation lock feature in iOS that's supposed to prevent anyone from using an iPhone or iPad marked as lost by its owner... One of the few things allowed from the activation lock screen is connecting the device to a Wi-Fi network, including manually configuring one. [Security researcher] Hemanth had the idea of trying to crash the service that enforces the lock screen by entering very long strings of characters in the WPA2-Enterprise username and password fields.

The researcher claims that, after awhile, the screen froze, and he used the iPad smart cover sold by Apple to put the tablet to sleep and then reopen it... "After 20-25 seconds the Add Wifi Connection screen crashed to the iPad home screen, thereby bypassing the so-called Find My iPhone Activation Lock," he said in a blog post.
There's also a five-minute video on YouTube which purports to show a newer version of the same attack.

Comments

Re:Inaccurate Info

[RhettLivingston]

The article is not talking about that lock. It is talking about the lock that is placed on your device when you mark it as lost.

that's not really bypassing the lock

[YesIAmAScript]

The point of the lock is to make the device less valuable for resale. And this, because it doesn't remove the lock, doesn't invalidate that.

The device simply flashes the main screen for a moment and then goes right back to the activation required screen.

Kudos to the guy for finding this. But he didn't bypass the system, the device is still unactivated and from what we see here can't even be used for anything. It certainly can't be resold for anything other than parts.