#397.8 - An Interview with Chris Gerlinsky
Chris Gerlinsky, an embedded reverse engineer based on Vancouver Island, explains his work decapping chips and microprobing to extract firmware and security keys from automotive ECUs and legacy cable set-top boxes. He details the physical processes of delayering ICs using chemicals and plasma etching to expose silicon bits, and discusses how aftermarket automotive companies use these techniques to integrate non-OEM parts into closed vehicle networks. Gerlinsky also contrasts the ease of reverse-engineering older pay-TV security chips with the increasing difficulty posed by modern automotive security measures like signed code and RSA signatures.