Watch CBS News

Security Flaw Discovered In iPhone 4S "Siri" Feature

MIAMI (CBS4) - Just as Apple breaks a record by selling four million iPhone 4S devices in a weekend, there's news of a security flaw.

Even when you've assigned a passcode to lock your phone, anyone could still access practically anything with the new voice command personal assistant called Siri.

CBS4 News spoke with CNET Associate Editor Sharon Vaknin about the problem. A security firm, Sophos, revealed the issue this week and CNET confirmed it.

"By activating Siri, I was able to access my calendar, contacts, addresses, phone numbers, I could send a text message and emails too," said Vaknin. "You do have to make a decision here. Do you want the convenience of quickly accessing Siri while your phone is locked? Or do you want to protect your personal data?"

Let's say you're driving. If you need to respond to a quick text with your voice, you only have to hit one button rather than unlock the phone altogether.

But if you want to protect your data, there's a quick fix.

"To get to the fix, all you have to do is get to your general settings, the passcode lock settings, then just turn off that Siri option," said Vaknin.

That's it, just turn it off. Apple did not make that the default setting. But now you know.

Click Here for more information about how to make your Siri feature more secure.

View CBS News In
CBS News App Open
Chrome Safari Continue
Be the first to know
Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting.