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Comment by scott_s | Hacker News Reader

I think these "vulnerabilities" are silly. The lockscreen on the phone is the equivalent of a screen door: it's meant to keep the bugs out, and to signal to the outside world, "Hey, this is a closed door, behave appropriately." But no one is going to be surprised if burglars are able to get past it.

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Do you have a password protected computer? Like a computer, a phone can have sensitive information. For many, such as my wife and sister, a phone is their computer. They put everything on it. A lock screen is a no different than any other password prompt you encounter. They're passwords. Passwords are not silly.

No, I do not, for the same reason. If someone gets physical access to a device, it is compromised.

> If someone gets physical access to a device, it is compromised.

This is the same with your computer. What's your point? Do you have no private information?

(Don't say "everything's encrypted": it's the same with passworded iPhones, and again: same issue with your PC. There are numerous simple hardware compromises like keyloggers, or removing and chilling RAM to get keys unencrypted from memory, etc)

My point was that it is the same with my computer, hence I don't bother with login passwords for either. If you get physical access to either, they are compromised. The veneer of security that a login password for my phone or computer provides is not worth the many times a day hassle of providing it.

Note that this is distinct from the login password to something remote.

Okay, fair enough. I quite understand where you're coming from. Good on you for practising what you preach! Personally, I appreciate the simple deterrent passwords have provided. :-)

If someone gets physical access to the phone, most data is certainly compromised. But there is still value in a passcode, as the system/apps on an iPhone can store the most valuable data (e.g. saved passwords) encrypted using the passcode as the key. Without a passcode losing your phone means immediately losing the keys to your entire online kingdom. Especially if you have email credentials set up. (Even if you have been using a passcode when you lose your phone you should still change your credentials, but in the meantime it is much less likely that your accounts are compromised.)

It doesn't have to be a screen door, and as far as I understand, it's not intended to be with iOS 7. The phone will not let you sync with an unrecognized external device unless you unlock it, and will stop you from brute forcing the passphrase, as well. Unless you physically take apart the device to remove the flash storage, I don't think there's a way to access the photos on it.

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