Will a thief be able to access the data on my iPad 2 by bypassing the passcode?

Solution 1:

Sadly yes, the thief can access your data. All bets are off when they have physical access to your device.

The easiest way for the less scrupulous to gain access to your data is to back up the device through their iTunes via a traditional sync. Once done, they can access that back up with a variety of third party utilities, like iPhone Backup Extractor. They can gain access to your entire profile's contents, like you Address Book entries, pictures, and even your messages.

The process is outline here. This particular place talks of restoring it to another device, but with programs like iPhone Backup Extractor, that is not necessary, as you can pull the data right from the backup.

If you've got access to iCloud, I would strongly suggest a remote wipe of the device. Failing that, pray the thief isn't concerned with your data and just wants the lucrative device for their own use (which is usually the case).

Solution 2:

I stand corrected by first answer, but just to add to it.

Apple does not have any support for stolen products. It does list what you can do here

If you have MobileMe or iClound "Find my iPhone" you will be able locate it (providing it is 3G or connected to WiFi. You can also remote wipe the iPad and send messages to the iPad.

Solution 3:

Sorry to hear about your loss. The following should bring some peace of mind.

Excerpts from Apple http://images.apple.com/ipad/business/pdf/iPad_Security_Overview.pdf

• iPad offers 256-bit AES encoding hardware-based encryption to protect all data on the device. Encryption is always enabled and cannot be disabled by users
• Devices can also be configured to automatically initiate a local wipe after several failed passcode attempts. This is a key deterrent against brute force attempts to gain access to the device. By default, iPad will automatically wipe the device after 10 failed passcode attempts.

Nonetheless, as a extra precaution, I would strongly recommend changing any passwords (emails, social media, financial, etc) that may be stored on that device.