Breaking News: iPhone Security Easily Bypassed

Photo by Kit Cowan

If you lock your iPhone's screen with a PIN or password, you probably thought that your private information was safe if your iPhone fell into the wrong hands. That was true until today.

There's a simple way to bypass your iPhone's PIN or password protection that gives anyone access to your contacts, the ability to send email, and the ability to run some apps on your iPhone. Here's how the easy-to-do exploit works:

Press the emergency call button so that the iPhone's dial pad appears. Dial any random phone number and when you see the red hang-up button, press the iPhone's sleep button. The iPhone's contact list will then appear. That's all there is to it.

This is a significant security problem, especially because iPhones are wildly popular in the Washington, DC area.

There's no word yet from Apple about a fix for this iPhone security flaw.