Samsung Galaxy S III lockscreen bypassed

The Samsung Galaxy S III has a flaw that allows anyone in possession of the phone to access files and apps stored on the handset, a security researcher has said.

Sean McMillan posted on the Full Disclosure forum how a series of inputs made it possible to bypass the lockscreen, meaning thieves would be able to rummage through documents and photos.

The warning comes less than a month after Apple faced criticism for a similar flaw in iOS 6.1 that meant iPhone thieves could bypass the screen lock without the need to enter the correct PIN code.

As McMillan reveals, the Samsung's Galaxy S III handsets can also be broken into without any hacking skills, with thieves simply pressing "Emergency Call", then "Emergency Contacts" followed by the "Home" button and then "Power".

"If successful, pressing the power button again will bring you to the S III's homescreen," the post explains, although it may take up to 20 attempts to get to that stage.

It's not the first time Galaxy lockscreens have been breached, with Samsung already working on a fix for a similar issue reported earlier this week by Engadget.