EM78P447SAM: what is this? anyone has ever used it? - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 03:23:25 pm
content: so ... some QA-guys have become so paranoid that they want to see a piece of paper with the label "military-grade" written next to KVM switch, otherwise, they won't authorize the use of anything, and "Military-grade" KVM switches are so damn expensive that my colleagues have asked me to reverse engineering them in order to understand which is the difference with a "common" KVM-switch and such a "safe" gear.We are also in idle due to a couple of technical problems with our airplanes, something that is out of our competence (mechanical problems), so I have a couple of days to play with KVM-switches.I have already opened and inspected a couple of DLINK models, finding the EM78P447SAM chip, which looks a protected microcontroller, unable to be "hacked"provide a key-logger.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 04:38:05 pm
content: You can find more info here:http://www.emc.com.tw/eng/8bit_prod_dsc.asp?gid=&tid=000007&tt=8bit_gpio_ds&nn=GPIO+Type+MCU+Family

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 05:03:15 pm
content: yes, but ... which is the ISA? I haven't yet understood if it's a 51-clone, or something different ...

author: Kalvin
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 05:14:08 pm
content: Quote from: legacy on September 05, 2019, 03:23:25 pmI guess you could get that paper from China quite fast and easily

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 05:35:06 pm
content: Quote from: legacy on September 05, 2019, 05:03:15 pmTake a look at §4.10 of the datasheet. It has a very simple instruction set.

author: jhpadjustable
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 10:55:57 pm
content: Slightly modified PIC clone...

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 10:58:36 pm
content: Quote from: jhpadjustable on September 05, 2019, 10:55:57 pmDidn't recognize the PIC IS from a quick look at the DS, but I thought it was looking familiar...

author: jhpadjustable
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2019, 11:46:14 pm
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on September 05, 2019, 10:58:36 pm1. "Okay, who the hell uses a 13 bit instruction word?"2. "... Google?"3.Did I cheat, or is library science really a full one-third of our art?

author: legacy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2019, 09:18:49 am
content: So, the KVM switch with the EM78P447SAM "weird CPU" has been classified as "unsafe" even if nobody on the planet Earth (except someone really crazy) would like to hack it,but those guys in the QA office said to me that a "Military-Grade" KVM Switch *must be* Hacker-Proof not because you cannot find the datasheet/SDK/whatever regarding the chip, or because you find that the MPU is so a pain in the ass to be hacked and reprogrammed that you would really prefer desoldering and replacing the chip with something more friendly (Teensy 4.0? it was the first thing I thought, anyway) ...but rather *because* each of these "super safe" products *must* offer -hardware-based data isolation and protective measures against port-to-port data leakage- (their words), further reducing the risk of unauthorized access ... and, beside the data security, they want to read a signed legal piece of paper where it's written black on white that the secure KVM Switch with USB unit *must* also sport several fail-safe physical security features, tested and proved to be 100% working in each scenario, includingtamper-evident tape(wtf?!?) on the casing that reveals a broken seal, as well as "automatic disabling of the unit" (disable channels and halt) in the event of a breach in the physical casing.O_M_G