Elcomsoft, a Moscow based provider of corporate security solutions has just released a free beta version of their iPhone Password Breaker tool.
The company says this new tool will enable forensic access to password protected backups of iPhone and iPod touch.
The modus operandi of the software is not particularly new. The software attempts to break through password protection by an elaborate wordlist-based attack. This would mean an incessant trial-and-error method using several dictionary words as well as other commonly used password terms. As MobileCrunch notes, several variations of words are also tried out till the tool is able to crack the password.
While this is no doubt a utility tool for those who lose their passwords, for a wide majority of users however, this can in fact serve as a security hazard. With a software like Elcomsoft's, dedicated attacks on iPhone backups that are not protected with sufficiently complex passwords can help attackers gain access to secure information pretty easily.
Users can protect their backups by choosing more complicated passwords that are difficult to guess as this is the first time iPhone backups have been targeted. Frankly, there is nothing to be worried about but there is no harm in choosing a better password.
Anyways, coming back to the main purpose of the tool, it enables forensic access to password protected backups of iPhone and iPod touch.
Do you encrypt your iPhone backups? Let us know in the comments.
[via MobileCrunch]
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