iOS Default Hotspot Passwords Cracked in Less Than a Minute

Anyone who has an iPhone or iPad has probably noticed the interesting passwords that iOS managed to generate for its tethering hotspots. It now appears that the collection of words consists of about 52,500 entries, and as true random generation is not possible where computers are concerned, it means that the words and numbers count must be cracked backwards to decipher the security generation algorithm. And that is precisely what happened.

Now before we start freaking out, let's just realize that most people don't walk around with $1,600 worth of graphics cards in their pockets, along with a 1,200 watt rated battery to power it all for long enough to coincidentally find an iOS tethering point and crack it. That being said, it does raise an important security issue of not only changing your default passwords, but also that commercially used password generation needs to step up its game with more complexity and length of its passwords. And, to be fair to Apple, at least it attempted a password generation technique, unlike some companies who have a single standard password all the time.

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  • John Goodman
    Radeon HD 9660? Did you mean 6990?
    Reply
  • abrzezi2
    You could use your phone to ssh into your home or work HPC and use that to crack the password. A few minutes later you'll be hooked up on somebody else's hotspot.
    Reply
  • greghome
    Anyone who has an iPhone or iPad has probably noticed the interesting passwords that iOS managed to generate for its tethering hotspots.

    The iPad has hotspot ?
    Reply
  • Killroyjenkins
    11010206 said:
    Anyone who has an iPhone or iPad has probably noticed the interesting passwords that iOS managed to generate for its tethering hotspots.

    The iPad has hotspot ?

    They have cell radios and are sold with data plans.

    This title is rather misleading. Sensationalism I guess.
    Reply
  • patrik kasten
    I hope that problem will be resolved before the release of the <a href="http://iphone5-fr.com/?rel=ugc" >iphone 5s</a>
    Reply