

A Japanese-based multinational made a CD-based console once - striking
http://weaponre.com/blog.html

======
mey
I'd be interested in them doing a tear down of a FIPS 140-2 Level 3 or higher
hardware security module. Basically systems designed to self-wipe on detection
of tampering.

~~~
usbreply
Have you seen the mikeselectricstuff youtube channel ? He did a teardown of a
credit card reader. The "self wipe" functionality is implemented in a fairly
simple way.

~~~
iancarroll
HSMs are on an entirely different level compared to credit card readers.

To OP, those devices are not cheap - they run $22k from SafeNet (dependent on
what model, obviously). In addition, FIPS criteria is meant to be tamper
evident (not tamper resistant). SafeNet does require a special key to recover
after a tamper attempt, though: [http://goo.gl/RyVtFj](http://goo.gl/RyVtFj)

~~~
pzb
HSMs also vary by manufacturer. The SafeNet Luna you linked to has both tamper
as the case level and tamper as the actual HSM level. If you read the FIPS
documentation for the SafeNet Luna SA, it has a PCIe card inside with a
cryptographic module on the card that is the core to the system. Tampering
with that is ever more destructive than just opening the case.

------
smtddr
I would pay money to enroll in a class dedicated to game console hacking of
this depth.

~~~
femto
If you have money to spend, spend it on an instance of the console that you
are interested in, then open it up and start figuring out how it works.
(Google is your friend here.)

One of the biggest barriers to learning about reverse engineering is fear of
the expense of breaking the system you are working on. Being afraid of
breakage makes one's exploration timid. In buying a system specifically for
the purpose, you've removed the major barrier.

Pulling something apart and figuring out how it works has to be _the_ best way
to learn about engineering. Every child (and curious adult) should do it, with
children having the advantage of all the time in the world to do things. As
you pull lots of things apart, you begin to learn about the full spectrum of
current engineering techniques, eventually ending up with the knowledge to
design your own stuff.

It would be cool if there was a "Wikipedia" of reverse engineering, whereby
every consumer item out there has a web of articles, and an army of the
curious has fun by stripping devices down and collaboratively documenting
innards to the lowest level possible. It would be extra cool if the community
extended to a means of obtaining broken reverse engineering targets, that
would otherwise be thrown away, or a way of spreading the cost of purchasing
sacrificial devices.

Such an effort would directly feed into Free Software efforts, by providing
the knowledge required to rewrite replacement software, from scratch, for the
devices in our lives. (For example, Free Software for your phone's modem
processor, your washing machine, your fridge, your TV, ...?) Free Software for
consumer appliances will come into prominence as every appliance in our lives,
and their associated sensors, joins the "Internet Of Things".

~~~
tomkinstinch
> It would be cool if there was a "Wikipedia" of reverse engineering, whereby
> every consumer item out there has a web of articles, and an army of the
> curious has fun by stripping devices down and collaboratively documenting
> innards to the lowest level possible.

Not to be too shameless, but I was excited to see someone else explicate the
idea. A few buddies and I are building a platform for precisely that[1].
Images can be annotated with hover-over notes with linked components, and it
is possible to search for things by component (ex. c:msp430). We have also
been bringing e-waste to Maker Faires to give kids the opportunity to get
comfortable disassembling things and identifying components and basic
engineering concepts.

1\. [https://www.takeitapart.com](https://www.takeitapart.com)

~~~
raphman_
Nice idea. However, you might want to make it clearer what the value of your
service over other services is. I do not really see a big advantage over
Flickr or Wordpress. Having a nice editor is enough, given the following
issues:

It is also not clear to me how you want to earn money from this service.
Therefore, I would hesitate to put my content on your site without knowing
whether it will still be online in a few years, and how you will monetize my
contribution.

The lack of open licensing options (Creative Commons, GNU FDL, whatever) and
obvious export formats immediately put me off. I would guess a large part of
your target demographic (of content creators) would be hesitant to put hard
work into content that is not freely shareable and modifiable.

Given the focus of your site, this is also an interesting requirement in the
TOS:

> _[You agree] Not to decompile, disassemble or reverse engineer any of our
> software or Site;_

~~~
tomkinstinch
The value is simple: It makes it easier to tell a narrative, and it is a
central repository with a common goal and central theme. It is easy to bulk
upload a set of images, crop, rotate, sort, and annotate them into a composite
disassembly guide that includes photo notes, required tools, and a Bill of
Materials of consituent components (with links to Octopart). I invite you to
create a guide and see how much easier it is to document disassembly, than by
using something like Flickr (which is great, but less specific in
application).

As for the TOS clause, that's standard legal protection. The terms also
explicitly permit derivative works within the site. We're evaluating open
licenses for the future, but for now it is easier to let content owners retain
copyright.

------
WatchDog
Some really cool pictures and very coy comments here. Id love learn more about
the work these guys have done in reverse engineering these systems. Googling
combinations of "WIZ Code" and "22.050Khz wobble" didn't yield anything, not
even the misinformation referred to.

~~~
rasz_pl
[http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=128](http://www.psxdev.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=70&t=128)

------
deutronium
This looks very impressive!

Could anyone explain what the R8J32710 chip is?

I'm wondering what the data rate of bits across the bonding wires would be.

~~~
AlyssaRowan
DSPs/SoCs usually used as optical disc drive controllers, for example in Blu-
Ray drives.

Three guesses why you might want to look inside one of those...

------
pjc50
Is that really a small LCD wire-bonded to the top of the chip as a live
readout device? That's a nifty trick.

~~~
Luc
I think it's your nifty imagination, it's just the watermark on the image :)

~~~
pjc50
Possibly, although in the first of these the green thing in the middle has
half a watermark on (very visible) while the rest of the watermark extends to
the right, and in the second I can clearly see bondwires running from the edge
of the die to something brownish in the central area.

It might be die-on-die packaged memory or something else part of the original,
but I'd like to know what it is.

[http://weaponre.com/config/R8J328XX_Decapped_WM.jpg](http://weaponre.com/config/R8J328XX_Decapped_WM.jpg)

[http://weaponre.com/config/CXD5130R_Decap_WM.jpg](http://weaponre.com/config/CXD5130R_Decap_WM.jpg)

~~~
Luc
If I were to hazard a guess I'd say it's SRAM. Nice, regular columns of
memory.

------
scalayer
This was a really fun read! Thanks for sharing!

------
akinder
And an EE with too much time on his hands thought waaay too much of himself

~~~
megablast
You may be in the wrong place if you think there is anything wrong with
technical people hacking away at software and hardware.

~~~
amagumori
he's referring to the silly "you'll get your ass handed to you" tone of the
post. it's ridiculously adversarial and self-aggrandizing. he might as well
have written "tango down" after showing a reversed chip..

~~~
rurounijones
> it's ridiculously adversarial and self-aggrandizing

Well yeah, that is the whole point.

------
usbreply
Reverse engineering silicon seems to have become the new "hacking". Everyone's
doing it. Perhaps its time to come up with a term to describe the hardware
equivalent of "script kiddie" ?

~~~
alexbecker
Is there such an equivalent? You can't C-C C-V hardware.

~~~
wolfgke
But perhaps in near future you'll be able to 3D print it - thus Ctrl-C Ctrl-V
becomes possible for hardware.

