This link seems to be quite interesting...


http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/~sps32/mcu_lock.html




-----Original Message-----
From: Timothy Box [mailto:Tim@TJBSYSTEMS.COM]
Sent: Wednesday, February 26, 2003 10:06 AM
To: PICLIST@MITVMA.MIT.EDU
Subject: Re: [PIC]: Breaking Code Protection


I know some one who claims to have hacked the PIC protection many times
right the way up through the various protection methods. It still can be
done just requires an electron micro scope and a few other things I really
should not mention.




>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.

I believe the prior publicly identified issues were addressed (16C84 ->
16F84) but that would only be a temporary reprieve.

My understanding is that anything can be hacked for enough dollars. I
believe the protection time for devices that people really really want to
copy is measured in months and that this is considered enough lead time in
markets where it matters to make protection worthwhile. We have had people
on this list in the past (but not for long :-) * ) offering to hack anything
for fees in the thousands of $US. Which doesn't mean they can always do it
of course.

* The name Starfire Zhu rings some sort of mental bell but it may just be
the increasing level of background noise there.
Googles ..... Hey! - fancy that - it's a real name. As of 1999 anyway. See
below.
Maybe you could contact the address given below and ask him if he is in that
business and if so how much to "inspect" a PICxxx of your choice. That would
give you some idea. Of course, this may be an entirely different Starfire
Zhu than the one I remember :-)



        Russell McMahon



Best reguards!  -----------------------------------------------
 Yours Truly,   8-) TEL: 86-756-2236157  2115540   FAX: 2115541
 Starfire Zhu   8-) Email: zhuxh@cheerful.com      ICQ#:7037093
                -----------------------------------------------

&

Re: ??VOLTAGE FOLLOWER(?????),?????????????Starfire Zhu - 12? 29?

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http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

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http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads

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http://www.piclist.com hint: PICList Posts must start with ONE topic:
[PIC]:,[SX]:,[AVR]: ->uP ONLY! [EE]:,[OT]: ->Other [BUY]:,[AD]: ->Ads