iOS default hotspot passwords cracked in 50 seconds
iOS users may be far more susceptible to being hacked when using Wi-Fi hotspot connections than they imagined.
According to researchers at Friedrich-Alexander University in Germany, Apple's default passwords for mobile hotspots, also known as pre-shared keys (PSKs), entail a mix of characters and numbers that are easily guessable.
With the right planning, passwords can be cracked in less than 50 seconds, the researchers said. Andreas Kurtz, Felix Freiling and Daniel Metz authored a 10-page white paper Usability vs. Security: The Everlasting Trade-off in the Context of Apple iOS Mobile Hotspots.