John,

If I erase IC numbers, conformal quote the board and put the board in
epoxy Can they still reverse engineer the board? 

Andre



-----Original Message-----
From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf
Of John Day
Sent: Tuesday, November 25, 2008 9:20 AM
To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public.
Subject: Re: PCB power plane question

At 09:50 AM 11/25/2008, you wrote:
>On Mon, 24 Nov 2008 10:44:43 -0800, "Andre Abelian" wrote:
>
> >
> >Alan,
> >
> >In this case I can use 5 and 12 split mixed plane.
> >
> >One of my main reason I do signals in middle layers
> >is to protect circuit agents reverse engineering. Most engineers give
up
> >when they see no traces on top or bottom of the board.
> >
>
>I think that method would only deter the most casual of
>reverse-engineering efforts.
>
>If it's really worth it to someone for them to reverse-engineer your
>PCB, it would be very little trouble to depopulate a board, slap it on
>a bed-of-nails tester, and extract a netlist directly from the
>interconnects. In fact, for someone with sufficient time (or enough
>cheap labor available), they could probably do the same thing with an
>ohmmeter.

Indeed, if you really want to reverse engineer something reasonably 
simple, their are firms in Eastern Europe who will completely reverse 
engineer a PCB for you. For about $1000 US they will do a  6 layer 
100x160mm PCB back to schematics unless it has any BGA packages, then 
it is between $1400 and $1600.

For about $5000 they will completely recover the code in most micros
too.

I have put signal layers between planes, but not for security - 
mainly for noise reduction. But you still need to bear in mind the 
issues of thickness balancing.

John


>Another possibility would be to delaminate a board into its separate
>layers and view the tracks directly.
>
>Heck, it may even be possible to use Xray methods to recover the inner
>layer layouts. (Given the distances involved, though, doing that may
>not be feasible.)
>
>
>Regards, Bob
>
>--
>http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
>View/change your membership options at
>http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist
>
>
>--
>No virus found in this incoming message.
>Checked by AVG.
>Version: 7.5.549 / Virus Database: 270.9.10/1811 - Release Date: 
>11/25/2008 8:29 AM

-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist

IMPORTANT NOTICE: This notice constitutes Proprietary Rights identification of this email including all attachments, which is property that is intended only for the use of the individual or entity to which it is addressed.  It also may contain proprietary data or information that is privileged, confidential, or otherwise protected from disclosure under applicable law.  The recipient of this data agrees to abide by the United States Export Control of Technical Data and Equipment under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) and Export Administration Regulations (EAR).  The recipient agrees to abide by these laws and their regulations not only for export and re-export, but for disclosure to non-U.S. citizens.   This email does not grant or assign rights of ownership in the proprietary subject matter herein, nor shall it be construed as a joint venture, partnership, teaming agreement, or other formal business relationship.  If the reader of this e-mail transmission!
  is not the intended recipient or the employee or agent responsible for delivering the transmission to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, copying or use of this e-mail or its contents is strictly prohibited.  Please notify the sender you received it in error by responding to the e-mail and then permanently delete it and all copies of the e-mail immediately, including any copies of it in your deleted email folder.


-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist