[logicallee]

How extreme is decapping? How much equipment and how much time does it require? How often does it destroy the chip or cause damage? How obvious is it that it occurred?

While we're at it, for the last question, tamper evidence, how good are tamper evidence seals - for example would a tamper evident seal on the enclosure show visually whether it has been opened (for example to exploit the flaw this article is about), or are tamper evident seals easy to get around or re-apply undetected?

[SAI_Peregrinus]

Decapping requires dissolving the plastic with acid. Attacking the chip from there is typically done in a Focused Ion Beam workstation (about $500k), and the risk of destroying the chip depends on too many factors. Some chips have photosensitive elements that generate just enough voltage to wipe their memory if they're exposed to light via decapping.

Tamper evident seals can often be defeated with nothing more than a PTFE (Teflon) knife made from shim stock.

[logicallee]

thanks