Break IC, Recover MCU, Microcontroller Reverse Engineering

Copy IC Program from secured microcontroller flash program memory and eeprom data memory needs to crack Microcontroller firmware protective system, after that the firmware can be readout directly from Microprocessor memory cell;

Copy IC Program from secured microcontroller flash program memory and eeprom data memory needs to crack Microcontroller firmware protective system

When ic attacker invests a huge amount of money to reverse engineer a pay-TV access card. Then he disassembles the internal code from the card, learning everything that happens during authorisation and operation. Very likely he would be able to find vulnerabilities which give unlimited access to the subscription channels.

For example, by applying a power glitch at just the right moment to cause a malfunction of the CPU. Once he succeeded he could either offer the subscription service at a very competitive price, or sell equipment for counterfeiting the card to malicious people.

Obviously such an ic cracker needs to invest some capital to do this. But once he launches a pirate device on the market, it will be mcu attacked by others. This time the mcu crack will not be so expensive, because pirate devices are normally based on standard microcontrollers which have much lower security protection than pay-TV smartcards.

Very likely the device will be cracked in a few weeks, and the secondary attackers will flood the market with their clones. Fairly soon, the information on how to build pirate devices becomes available on the Internet and anyone can build pirate devices at almost no cost. So the pay-TV service provider loses millions of dollars; sometimes the original ic breaker is sued or prosecuted.

But because the lost profit was distributed among all the pirates and dishonest subscribers, the service provider hardly gets any money back. The only effect of such actions is to threaten the copyer community with punishment. In addition the service provider will have to spend a fortune on redesigning his access control system, choosing and developing software for the new smartcard, and distributing cards to the subscribers.