Security chip that does encryption in PCs hacked

Story

 

It is a hardware crack that requires:
1) physical access to the chip, and
2) a very high level of expertise to execute the crack.

Something for chip mfgrs to think about as it demonstrates that it is not impossible to crack give time and monetary resources.

-- Tom

 

But it shouldnt have been cracked at all. Poor design, poor programming.

 

Some high resolution images of decapsulated microchips that still function. Descapsulation is required for this hack to work.

Decapsulated devices

 

Hi TheMozart,

It is not that it shouldn't have been cracked at all, but that it was not expected to be cracked, and not just anyone had the expertise or the 6 months it took to crack it with the patience either. A real nice piece of hacking, but virtually useless unless you really know what you are doing (so easy to ****-up) - which the author did.

-- Tom