The FBI and Apple are in a bitter legal war in relation to
access to information on the iPhone of one of the San Bernardino
attackers. The FBI is seeking orders forcing Apple to create a new
iPhone operating system (OS) that will circumvent several security
features in order to install it on the attacker's iPhone so as
to access files and data.
Brief overview
A major security feature of the iPhone is that each phone has a
unique random factory generated "encryption key," which
can only be accessed when the user enters in the correct PIN code.
The key is embedded on the phone and, combined with the PIN code,
allows access.
After ten failed attempts of guessing the PIN, the phone does
not simply wipe the data - it erases the encryption key.
Thereafter, even Apple itself can't access the encryption key
of a particular phone.
