14 DAY TRIAL // The brute-force attack protection on an iPhone locked out the owner for no less than 47 years after way too many repeated failed passcode attempts.
According to a report from SMCP, it all happened after a child was left watching educational videos on an iPhone, only for the mother to discover that the device was then locked for 25 million minutes.
The explanation of what happened is as simple as it could be: the toddler repeatedly tried to enter the passcode after the device locked automatically when idle, and given the way the protection system on the iPhone works, the lockout eventually reached 47 years.
Apple tries to prevent iPhones from being hacked with brute-force attacks by increasing the waiting times for new passcode attempts as the unlocking process fails. So the more incorrect passcode attempts take place, the longer the waiting time.
Locked out for 80 years
The cited source cites Apple Store staff as saying that the mother had two options: either wait for 47 years and then enter the correct passcode or reset the device completely and lose all the data stored on it. For what it’s worth, it appears that the mother still hasn’t decided what to do.
“I couldn’t really wait for 47 years and tell my grandchild it was your father’s mistake,” the woman has been quoted as saying, which suggests that she might be ready to erase the phone.
The Apple Store engineers who inspected the iPhone say this isn’t the first time they see such a long lockout on a phone. Someone brought in an iPhone that was locked up for no less than 80 years.
Without a doubt, if the mother does decide to wait that long to be able to enter the passcode one more time, it’ll be interesting to see if the battery is still throttled at that point. Because as it turns out, it really takes a lot of time for Apple to launch the performance-throttling fix for iPhones.