A new discovery by iOS forensics company Elcomsoft has revealed that encrypted iOS backups via iTunes are much easier to crack with iOS 10 than in past years. The change in security is apparently due to a new password verification method in iOS 10.
The discovery centers around the idea that the backup method used in iOS “skips certain security checks” that were present in past versions of iOS, thus allowing passwords to be attempted signficnatly faster than before. Interestingly, the new backup method works alongside the old back up method, meaning that for pre-iOS 10 backups, the old method is used.
Essentially, this means that it’s much easier for someone to gain access to an iOS backup that they shouldn’t have access to. iOS backups store every piece of data from a phone, including Keychain passwords, phone numbers, and more. With the iOS 10 change, Elcomsoft’s tool is able to try 6 million password guesses per second and has an 80 percent to 90 percent chance of getting the correct password.
This new vector of attack is specific to password-protected local backups produced by iOS 10 devices. The attack itself is only available for iOS 10 backups. Interestingly, the ‘new’ password verification method exists in parallel with the ‘old’ method, which continues to work with the same slow speeds as before.
Apple has acknowledged the issue in a statement to Forbes, saying that it is working on a fix. The company also added that the issue doesn’t affect iCloud backups. Until the fix is implemented, though, Apple recommends that users ensure that their computers are protected with strong passwords.
It’s unclear when Apple plans to implement a fix for the issue, but the company is currently beta testing iOS 10.1 and recently released iOS.0.2 to the public. The update will likely come sooner rather than later now that this issue is public, though.
