On Wed, 26 Feb 2003 12:31:06 +0200, you wrote:

>Hi
>
>I remember a couple of years back, there was a lot of =
stories/methods/speculation about Microchip PICs' code protection being =
crackable, and one I remember is applying a certain voltage to the =
program pin on one of the MCU's made the code readable.
>
>Is this still the case, or has these issues been fixed? The reason why =
I'm asking is to be sure code protection will actually protect the code.

Microchip are the only compoany to have been publicly burned over code =
protection through the pirate
satellite card market, and I think this probably means they have taken a =
harder look than many
others at security, and I probably have more confidence in theirs than =
many others.=20
of course given sufficient resources nothing is secure. The question is =
whether it is 'secure
enough' to protect against attacks which likely in your market, or other =
markets which use that
chip.=20

> I've seen circuits where the manufacturers rubbed the model and other =
details off the surface of the chips, possibly to make it unidentifyable.=
 The prefered method would however be onchip code protection.
Scrubbing numbers (and potting things) is a pathetic, pointless gesture =
by manufacturers who don't
understand security. It does not significantly add to the difficulty of =
reverse-engineering a
product.

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