Wow that's quite interesting Jasper! That seems to be rather shifty to take this key encryption and give to iCloud users. Like this article states iCloud users should use a Password Manager so that they don't make easy passwords for their account. 

Indeed, super interesting...but I am not really getting the rationale behind all of this?

*******The following is a update and response from Apple on this issue*********
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Apple responds to FBI iPhone hack, but questions remain.

 
By Mark Wilson
 

 
Yesterday, the FBI announced that it had managed to break into the San Bernardino shooter's iPhone sans help from Apple. The iPhone manufacturer will undoubtedly be pleased that the court case has come to an end without the company having to cave in and assist the agency.
In a statement, Apple said: "From the beginning, we objected to the FBI’s demand that Apple build a backdoor into the iPhone because we believed it was wrong and would set a dangerous precedent. As a result of the government’s dismissal, neither of these occurred. This case should never have been brought". But with the FBI's previous insistence that help from Apple was absolutely essential, some serious questions remain.
 The secrecy surrounding the case means that, however loudly the company shouts about being opposed to helping the FBI, we'll never really know if, behind the scenes, Apple was in fact offering help. To publicly admit helping would be a PR -- and financial -- disaster, so it makes perfect sense to be vocally against the idea. It's entirely possible, of course, that the FBI achieved its aim with the assistance of Israeli security firm Cellebrite, but the point is: we'll never know.
If Apple was not involved in cracking the iPhone 5c, the company's customers will want it to press the FBI for details of the technique used to access the data. If one iPhone 5c running iOS 9 can be cracked, so can others -- it's a potential security nightmare when there's no way of containing who has access to the software or tools that were used in the successful hack. Apple and its customers will want to know what security flaw was exploited to gain access in so that it can be plugged.
 
full article here:

A lot of pros and cons here with a lot of unanswered questions which we might never know. I think Apple should know that there is a vulnerability in their Apple iPhones and its there promise to keep users security protected. But it's very hard to have sides when lives are at stake and when people's personal data and information can be opened. It's a no win situation here.
 
Thanks Anthony for the update! 

I agree with what many others have said, this topic seems like a double edged sword. I am sure Apple will publish more updates regarding this flaw in the os. 
 
Thanks for keeping us up to date Anthony
 
Brad
 

As I posted elswhere it was apparently nothing to do with a pure vulnerability but rather a clever piece of lateral thinking to circumvent the feature that protects the iPhone from brute force attacks which will always eventually work againsg password protection given long enough, especially since most people do not know how to make a hackers life very difficult by constructing a fiendishly difficult to crack one.