I was trying to look this up and found no solid sources.<p>John Mccafee's solutions was BS from the beginning because it's assumed the password was stored in clear text. The FBI wants a cracker engineered by Apple, but is there another way?<p>Isn't it possible the NSA could de-cap and clone the storage of an iPhone, then run a password cracker own the clones. This seems like exactly what they would do. I can't think of any technological reason they couldn't do this. Is there some limitation because the password is only part of the encryption key and the key is stored on a separate chip?<p>Is it possible to brute-force the 265bit encryption on the phone?<p>It is possible even the NSA's hands are tied?<p>I haven't heard anything about the NSA's capability regarding the FBI vs Apple case. I understand the FBI wants to have a media blitz about this, playing up emotions, while avoiding facts like the NSA, but I'm interested in the technical limitations.