Hardware Reverse Engineering and Invasive Attacks
Sergei P. Skorobogatov · 2025
Security in many modern systems rely on the underlying hardware when it comes to authentication, secrecy and integrity. In order to understand the security of the hardware features implemented inside silicon, at least partial reverse engineering of the internal structure is required. Invasive and semi-invasive attacks start with the removal of a chip package to access its silicon die. The most important tool for invasive attacks is a microprobing workstation. Reverse engineering helps in understanding the hardware and spotting weaknesses otherwise not visible during the normal design process. Hardware cloning is the process of creating a component without investment into its design. Functional cloning could be done by observing the behavior of a device. For most custom-designed devices, the only practical way to understand their functionality is via reverse engineering of their silicon.