Logic Lockdown
Design Security Part 2

Engineers are trained problem solvers. While various fields of engineering require different types of technical training and expertise, the techniques of problem solving are universal to all branches of the profession. If engineers are problem solvers, could one infer that reverse engineers are problem creators? In a narrow view, probably so – but reverse engineering has its place in the innovation cycle as well. Reverse engineers also help us hone our security skills to prevent attacks from those who wish to do us (and our design IP) harm.

Reverse engineering is not a back-alley, cloak and dagger, business-in-the-shadows affair – quite the contrary, in fact. Companies specializing in reverse engineering operate openly and have a long and public history, particularly in the semiconductor arena. In the United States, reverse engineering has the protection of law, with the Supreme Court ruling that "A trade secret law, however, does not offer protection against discovery by fair and honest means, such as by independent invention, accidental disclosure, or by so-called reverse engineering, that is by starting with the known product and working backward to divine the process which aided in its development or manufacture."

The US Semiconductor Chip Protection Act specifically legalizes reverse engineering of competitors' chips, both for the purpose of making compatible chips and for the purpose of producing a better, competing product. If you're protecting something copyrightable (like software, music, images or video) the Digital Millenium Copyright Act spreads its umbrella a little bit in your direction. It apparently isn't legal to reverse engineer in order to defeat protection schemes for copyrighted content, but even the DMCA has an exception permitting semiconductor reverse engineering. [more]