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Photos and data on iCloud still not safe from hackers

Back in September, celebrities' private photos and videos hosted on Apple's iCloud were leaked online and history may repeat itself as the iCloud is still not safe from hackers.

Russian software company ElcomSoft announced it found a way around the two-factor authentication introduced by Apple as a security measure to prevent hackers from stealing data, and it has released an update to its Phone Breaker software which includes the workaround. The software is used by law enforcement and intelligence agencies, however, it can be purchased by anyone.

The company said the software "extracts all types of data from iCloud including iWork documents, WhatsApp chats and third-party data saved by games, password managers, social networks etc." It said the software bypasses the two-factor authentication by "[extracting] iCloud authentication tokens from users’ hard drives and forensic disk images."

ElcomSoft CEO Vladimir Katalov said "Apple released major technological updates and introduced tightened security measures during the past month. We are keeping up with the latest
developments, adapting to newly implemented security measures."

Back in May, many Australian iCloud accounts were held to ransom after hackers gained access through the "Find my iPhone" feature and locked down the accounts.

Source: ElcomSoft via Macworld | Image via Apple

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