iOS 5 Security Flaw Lets Anyone View Your Contacts or Recent Calls

Apple’s iOS devices have seen plenty of passcode-related security flaws in the past. iPhoneIslam (via Macgasm) points out a new security flaw that could allow anyone with access to your phone, a paperclip, and a fair bit of patience to view your call history, or even see your entire address book. I recommend pushing forward to about 2:40 in the below video to save yourself some time.

I’m not sure how likely this scenario is – for someone to gain access to your iPhone for several minutes – long enough to eject your SIM card multiple times without being noticed. Still, if your iPhone is swiped, this could be a significant point of concern.

As you can see, the trick relies on trying to make a call using the missed call notification, then ejecting and reinserting the SIM card. The hack only works if your device currently doesn’t have a signal (hence the SIM card trickery).

The bug is definitely a problem that needs to be patched, to be sure, but its unclear how much any individual iPhone user should really worry about this in the meantime.

J. Glenn Künzler

Glenn is Managing Editor at MacTrast, and has been using a Mac since he bought his first MacBook Pro in 2006. He lives in a small town in Utah, enjoys bacon more than you can possibly imagine, and is severely addicted to pie.