Samsung"s Galaxy S II smartphone is a big hit overseas, selling 10 million units in just a few months, but the Android powered smartphone is just beginning to be sold here in the US. AT&T"s version of the phone started selling in the US in mid-September. Boy Genius Report has posted up word that AT&T"s model of the Galaxy S II has a major security flaw that would allow anyone to unlock the smartphone even if a security PIN number is set up to secure the phone.
The way around the lock is shown in the video below. In short, a person who wants access to the phone starts by pressing the lock button on the phone"s case. That brings up the smartphone"s display, with the locked mode on. Then all the user has to do is wait until the display goes black. Then the user presses the lock button again. That should bring up the unlocked display on the smartphone, with full access to the phone"s apps and all of the personal info and content inside, with no need to plug in a PIN number. The article adds that this flaw works if the phone"s PIN has been used to unlock the phone at least once. This flaw seems to be exclusive to the AT&T version of the Galaxy S II.
In a statement to BGR, Samsung said that it and AT&T "are investigating a permanent solution" to this flaw. Samsung"s statement adds, "In the meantime, owners of the Galaxy S II can remedy the situation by re-setting their time-out screen to the “immediately” setting. This is done by going to the Settings ->Location and Security->Screen unlock settings->Timeout->Immediately."