The question here is that the iPhone 5C doesn't have the protections the iPhone 5S, 6, 6plus, 6S, and 6S plus have built into their processors. Those devices are far more secure than the iPhone in question. However, it should not matter which iPhone an Apple customer owns under the equal protection of the law. Apple has not been handed a Search Warrant for this iPhone because there is NO pending criminal case. That died with the perpetrators of the San Bernardino terrorist attack. There is no one left to prosecute.
This is an investigation, a fishing expedition. Apple has been ordered by a Federal Magistrate to create the means to unlock an iOS device which has been designed to be secure from the get-go to prevent unlocking. Doing so will compromise Apple's entire ecosystem of almost 800 million iOS users who use over one BILLION iOS devices around the world who rely on the security of those devices to protect their privacy, the passwords, and their credit card information. That unbreakable security is one of the primary differentiators that makes Apple's products superior.
If Apple creates a tool that unlocks an iPhone that even hints that it can be broken, if that's possible, or if one that is created winds up getting out into the wild, it would be a disaster for all of those 800 million users, and for Apple's ecosystem. Every tool that opens the other mobile operating systems HAS been allowed to get into the wild in exactly that way, despite promises they would never be allowed beyond law enforcement. All it takes mere existence and the payment of a bribe.
Currently, on iPhones newer than the iPhone 5C, the protections are built into the hardware of the A7 and later processors which have the Secure Enclave co-processor built onto the SoC which handles the Secure Boot System which assures that the iOS device is properly validated with proper credentials. It uses a hard-coded UUID which is burnt into the silicon at manufacture that no-one knows and cannot be read from outside the Secure Enclave processor to create the encryption which will be entangled with the user's input passcode, as well as randomized data from GPS, barometric pressure, etc., to create a truly unique KEY for the 256 bit AES encryption of the data.
Also hard coded at manufacture on Secure Enclave is an variable algorithm which creates a one-way HASH of the user's input passcode which will then be stored in the Secure Enclave. The encryption KEY will also be converted to a one-way HASH and stored in the Secure Enclave. Every time the user logs into his or her iOS device, the passcode is re-converted to the HASH and compared to the one stored in the Secure Enclave. If they match, the iOS device is unlocked. If they do not, the Secure Boot allows four chances without a delay, then five more with extended delays of from one minute up to fifteen minutes between tries. The tenth try the wait is one hour after the ninth. IF it fails, the Secure Boot erases all data on the device and permanently locks the device until the owner unlocks it using his AppleID and then restores the data from an iTunes backup.
THAT is security, but THAT is what the judge has ordered Apple to disable for all iPhones so they can open one. . . or is it the only reason?
Hey Sword,
There’s a guy on another thread (driftdiver) on this subject who claims he “an IT Security company which does computer forensics.”
And getting the iPhone data is easy because he does “Things like pulling data off phones and hard drives.” And “I don’t need the password to copy the data. I can copy the device or copy the file system or the file. I don’t even need to go through the Operating system.”
So he can get the iPhone data no sweat. I think he’s another magic thinker. Older Phones, older OSs he might be right but not this phone, not this OS. I say not password, no access, else this whole thing would be a non-issue.