August 28, 2008, 5:19 PM — A recently discovered security flaw that would allow access to a locked iPhone will be fixed next month, Apple said on Thursday.
"The minor iPhone security issue which surfaced this week is fixed in a software update which will be released in September," Apple representative, Jennifer Bowcock, said in an email to Macworld.
The security flaw allows access to a locked iPhone by pressing the emergency call button at the unlock screen, followed by two taps on the home button. That will take you to the iPhone's private 'favorites' page without the need to enter the unlock code. If the owner of the phone has favorite entries in their address book containing URLs, e-mail addresses or mobile phone numbers, then those entries can be used to launch the browser, mail application or SMS (Short Message Service) software and gain access to private Web favorites, e-mail messages and text messages stored in the phone, again without entering the unlock code.
Bowcock offered some advice to protect your phone until the software update is released. She said you can set the iPhone so that double-clicking the home button will take the user directly to the home screen, which if password protection is turned on, will be the unlock screen.
