ipad passcode problem

[bob101]

Hi All,
one of my clients has an ipad1 which was allowed to access her exchange email account. due to company policy it ended up locking her out of her own ipad and no matter what passcode she has ever used will allow her back in. - this is where the BYOD becomes a problem..........

Her old work laptop which is what she used to connect it to for itunes etc has been wiped, re-imaged and re-purposed. So she has no backup of her ipad(i think) - she said she did an ios upgrade to (probably) 5 on her new laptop - am i right in assuming that this would also have backed up her data???

The problem is she has photos of her now deceased uncle amongst others which were only on the ipad(and the old itunes) i have no way of telling if she has a backup of her data on her new laptop, therefore need to find a way to access the laptops data.

Before anyone tells me its not possible, or i have to use itunes and do a restore (and potentially lose any data), i know that this is possible, i just dont have the skills just yet. i have jaibroken devices before, and im an IT professional so just need the info and a little guidance!
many thanks for any help,
Tim

 

[Mickey330]

The only way to get into an iPad that has been password protected (and the password has been forgotten/lost) is to do a sync and restore of that iPad with the last computer that iPad synced with. Using any other computer will only restore the iPad, iTunes will not put the data back on it. The data that was on the iPad will be lost, permanently and the iPad will be as if it came fresh out of the box. This is a security feature built into the password protection program.

From the way you present the problem, I can't tell if she synced the iPad with the new laptop. You say she used it to upgrade to iOS 5.x. That may mean that the laptop is the "last computer the iPad synced with." But, I am unsure if that's what you (or she) meant.

I assume that the laptop that she used to upgrade to iOS 5.x has a copy of iTunes? If so, take a look at this software program, iBackupBot for iTunes for Windows (I don't know of one for a Mac). If that laptop has an iTunes backup, this program will allow you to look in it. Then, if there is a backup, in the iBackupBot program, click on an icon titled "Browse and export media files." If those pictures are in there, that's the only way I know of to get them.

If that laptop was the last computer the iPad synced with, those pictures should be there and you should have been able to get them with iBackupBot. Then, it won't matter if a restore wipes everything out - you'll have the pictures.

Bottom line: The only way to get that iPad back up and running is to do a restore. If you are lucky, the laptop is the computer that was last used. Otherwise, I'm sorry, but the data is gone.

Marilyn

 

[bob101]

Thanks Mickey330 for the quick reply.

sorry i wasnt clear - i am not sure with which laptop she did the upgrade, i will definately check out ibackupbot and see if she has done it on the new laptop. - good tip for future!

i know you say the only way is to do a backup/restore however Aplle have been saying that for years about iphones and you used to be able to create a custom rom, jailbreak the iphone boot to the custom rom (so it doesnt touch the ssd drive) connect via SSH and be able to mount the partition. from the partition you can then see the encrypted key and with that you can dictionary/bruteforce offline. once you have that key you can/could use it to view the files on the device. This was possible in ios3-4 - unfortunately i only witnessed it, did not make any notes, and now need to know how to do it! - sods law.
Tim

 

[Mickey330]

Ouch! Sorry, bob101, but you just went w-a-y over my head with what you want to do. I'm not that experienced with the guts and stuff of an iPad, let alone a jailbroken one. I can fiddle and tweak one - I don't know how (or if) you can get into it to find a password that Apple doesn't want you to find.

Sorry, but I've got nothing for you.

Marilyn

 

[f4780y]

Whilst I am aware of a POC of this a long time ago on iPhone at a security seminar, I never saw a working public release. AFAIK it has never been done on the iPad. The tools certainly aren't freely available. Sorry.

 

[bob101]

Thanks for the replies, i will ask (through a very vague connection) a security expert on macs.... to see if it is possible, and how hard to do.

if i actually get anywhere - no real expetations on this! - i will post here.