Police - or anyone with a piece of spying software - can track everything you do on your iPhone without needing physical access to your phone.
The software, called Phone Password Breaker, can download all of the data from Apple's iCloud service - which backs up all of your pictures, text messages, emails, calendar appointments, call logs, website you have visited, and contacts.
As iPhones sync nearly instantaneously with iCloud, anyone who is listening will have near-instantaneous access to your phone - without the owner noticing a thing.
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Snooping: Investigators don't need your phone to follow your life
ElcomSoft chief executive Vladimir Katalov said: 'While other methods require the presence of the actual iPhone device being analysed or at least an access to device backups, this is not the case with iCloud.
'In a sense, Phone Password Breaker becomes an alternative way to get access to iOS devices’ content.
'With avalid Apple ID and a password, investigators can not only retrieve backups to seized devices, but access that information in real-time while the phone is still in the hands of a suspect'.
The majority of iPhone and iPad users use iCloud to back up all of their data, apps and media - with an estimated 125million people using the software as of April.
As long as investigators or anyone with the software has the correct email address and password for the machine they want to crack, they can download all the information from iCloud with the user knowing.
Steve Jobs announcing iCloud: However company ElcomSoft can download all your data, unencrypted
And as iPhones sync with iCloud in near-real-time, they can keep up with you where-ever you are.
The researchers at ElcomSoft studied the communication protocol connecting iPhone users with the iCloud, and were able to figure out the right commands to retrieve data stored on the servers.
Their job was made even easier as the data is received in an unencrypted format.
The only way to protect yourself is to either not back up your phone, or do local 'offline' backups on your home computer via iTunes.
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denny
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