Samsung Galaxy devices’ lock screen easily bypassed

This week revealed not one, but two security vulnerabilities that allow anyone to bypass the lock screen on a variety of Samsung Android smatphones.

On Monday UK blogger Terence Eden showed how it’s possible to run apps and dial numbers on a locked Samsung Galaxy Note II phone running 4.1.2.

“This attack works against Pattern Lock, PIN, Password, and Face Unlock. There is no way to secure your phone against your home screen being accessed,” he pointed out, and offered the steps for doing it because, as he said, the attack is of limited value and use, and Samsung is not replying to his emails

On Tuesday, one Sean McMillan published on the Full Disclosure mailing list simple instructions on how to completely bypass the lock screen on the Samsung Galaxy S III (also running Android 4.1.2).

“It can take quite a few attempts to get this working, sometimes this method works straight away, other times it can take more than 20 attempts,” he says, and claims that he successfully tested the method on three devices.