First of all, the algorithm to encrypt them isn't known. Secondly, the key that was used to encrypt them is constructed using the passcode that isn't known, entangled with an unknown Unique ID that isn't known or recorded anywhere, also entangled with a group ID that is known, also entangled with a purely random number that came from a purely entropic input from four sensors (camera, microphone, accelerometer, and one other Apple doesn't list) in the iPhone that were read when the original passcode was input and entangled themselves to provide a truly random number . . . but the last three of those things, the UID, GID, and the random number are stored inside a special area called the Encryption Engine inside the A6 processor which even the data processor of the A6 cannot reach.
The first item, the passcode, has to be input anew each time by the user. . . and another algorithm converts it into a one-way hash that will be compared with a stored one-way hash that is kept with the other items in the Encryption Engine that was generated the first time the passcode was entered. If the two match, the iPhone is unlocked, the encryption algorithm builds the encryption/decryption key by using the passcode, the UID, GID, and random number, and the data can be deciphered.
BUT, it has to have all four of those things, and they are not anywhere on the flash drive . . . and three of them are locked away in the Encryption Engine, completely unreadable by the A6 processor and the fourth can only be input by the user from the touch screen. . . and all of them only manipulable by the Encryption Engine itself inside itself.
... a purely random number that came from a purely entropic input from four sensors (camera, microphone, accelerometer, and one other Apple doesn't list)
I once read of a random number generator that relied upon a semiconductor noise generating diode that supplied the number as a random digit from the voltage measured across that diode. Say the third digit of 1.35681V one time then the 2nd digit of 1.46329 another, the 5th digit another time, etc.....................
Israeli firm helping FBI to open encrypted iPhone: report
http://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-encryption-cellebrite-idUSKCN0WP17J