Absinthe 2.0 Arrives to Jailbreak Apple's iOS 5.1.1

A new version of the tool used to unlock iPhones and iPads hit the Internet this week, giving daring users the ability to unlock their devices, even if they run Apple's latest iOS 5.1.1 operating system.

The software, called Absinthe 2.0, was announced Friday at the Hack in the Box security conference in Amsterdam. It allows users full access to their iPhone's and iPads through jailbreaking -- a process which removes the limitations imposed by Apple on devices running their software.

With this, users can download additional applications, extensions and themes that are unavailable through the official Apple App Store.

Speculation surrounding the release reached a tenor when the software's developers, Jailbreak Dream Team, were announced to appear at the 2012 Hack in the Box conference.

This was certainly one of the most highly anticipated talks we've EVER had at one of our HITB conferences, and we've done quite a few of these, said Dhillon Andrew Kannabhiran, Founder and CEO of Hack In The Box. The excitement from the Dream Team followers and overall Twitter and online buzz has been terrific!

The software works by exploiting security holes in Apple's own operating system. Apple first released iOS in 2007 with the original iPhone and has since been updating and refining the software. The current version, 5.1.1, was released on May 15.

The developers don't expect that Apple will roll out a quick fix for the latest iOS hack.

Of course, they are going to patch things. But I'm not sure they will release a new version of iOS just for this. I think they will wait for iOS 6, said team member Cyril, according to IDG.

In addition to the ability to jailbreak the latest operating system, Absinthe 2.0 is untethered, which is more desirable than other jailbreaks because it allows users to reboot their devices without plugging them into external computers. This means the device will remain jailbroken if the user reboots.

The software can be used on the iPhone 4S, 4 and 3GS and breaks ground being the first untethered jailbreaking solution for the latest iPad.

The team expect their latest software to be downloaded about a million times, they said during a press conference following the announcement.