iPhone,  Mac OS X,  Mac Security

Bypassing the iPhone Passcode

Cellebrite has a solution that can unlock the passcode on an iPhone or iPod if you have a computer that has synchronized with it. iTunes generates a Security ID for each iPhone or iPod that is synchronized with it. This ID is used to synchronize just in case you loose or forget the passcode. Cellebrite can use the Security ID file from iTunes as well. Cellebrite isn’t the only tool, there are others as well, many of which will allow you to mount the device with or without actually writing data to it. But what if you don’t have the passcode or a machine that the handheld has been synchronized with? Jonathan Zdziarski, in his book iPhone Forensics provides steps to remove the passcode without a Security ID file by doing some fun firmware hacks. Overall, the iPhone Forensics book was a good read, although it seems that things with the iPhone are moving so rapidly that many of the steps have changed (or will very shortly;).