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I'm sure there was an option to deactivate the auto unlock on correct pin but i can't find it anymore.

How can i disable this, because it makes any pin useless. Brute force is easy if it auto unlocks the phone on a correct pin.

Where can i find this option? How to deactivate it?

EDIT: I want to have to press "okay" to check if the pin was correct and not the phone to instantly auto unlock if the correct pin is entered. At the current form it says "wrong pin" if i type in one number more that my pin is long. Therefore someone knows how long my pin is. He then only has to test all possible combinations for this length. That's not safe. A kid with some time could break that.

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  • Can you clarify what you mean by "auto unlock on correct pin"? How would you like the phone to behave when a correct PIN is entered?
    – Indrek ♦
    May 7, 2016 at 18:21
  • I have clarified in the op.
    – Spenhouet
    May 7, 2016 at 19:56
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    How would you propose you could write something to hack it in milliseconds? Given apps on the phone cannot send input to other apps, and also that entering an incorrect pin too many times forces a time delay between tries?
    – Rowland Shaw ♦
    May 9, 2016 at 13:11
  • @RowlandShaw: I just meant that i could theoreticaly write a program that could do that. Just about the logic what this programm has to do. Physicly i just could do that by Hand. Your delay on incorrect pins doesn't help much if i know how many combinations there are.
    – Spenhouet
    May 9, 2016 at 13:37
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    Well, for such a program to work, you'd also need to build an external hardware rig to enter the pin, and recognise whether the unlock was successful, as apps can't interact with the PIN entry. You'd also need to wait a few weeks after unsuccessful guesses
    – Rowland Shaw ♦
    May 9, 2016 at 13:46

2 Answers 2

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I'm sure there was an option to deactivate the auto unlock on correct pin

There is no such option at present. Even with a registry hack I don't think it is possible.

I don't think MS will change this as it is supposed to be an easy way for login in desktop as an alternative to password (due to the convergence the same code is used for mobile).

Bruteforce is easy if it auto unlocks the phone on a correct pin.

I understand that you are concerned about your phone security. I would like to note that cracking a PIN in windows phone is not as easy as cracking PIN in Android due to the restricted access via USB and restrictions for apps.

Some things you could do

Step 1 :

You could ask Microsoft to include a picture password as an alternative to PIN. It is a part of Windows 10 and can be brought to Windows 10 Mobile. Several users have already asked for this in the feedback hub. I suggest that you vote for their feedbacks.

Step 2:

  1. Go to Settings->Devices->USB.
  2. Turn on Ask me before allowing other devices to connect to my mobile via USB

As far as I could see, this prevents me from accessing my system files from Linux when my phone is locked. It is not an exact solution for your problem but it could add an extra security.

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The option is not there in Windows 10 Mobile.

However, Windows Mobile is already secured against random guessing/generation of passkey numbers.

After 5 tries, it locks down the phone for a minute. And another set of attempts id made again after that minute, it locks down the phone for even more time, making it harder by the second for a program or entity to keep on trying random passkeys. This applies to earlier versions of the Windows Mobile platform.

Windows 10 Mobile has an even more robust security system against that. After 5 unsuccessful attempts, the phone prompts you with a "captcha-like" challenge to prove that you are human, before giving you a chance to make other attempts, which could lead to subsequent locking out for some time if unsuccessful again, just like in the older versions of Windows Mobile.

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So i can say the platform is pretty safe...!!!

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