> You just need to disable the mechanism that wipes the device Sure, to resist microscopic attacks, an IC must assert logical integrity to itself i.e. that the

> You just need to disable the mechanism that wipes the device Sure, to resist microscopic attacks, an IC must assert logical integrity to itself i.e. that the gates & wires are not compromised by a microscopic attack. But just because you and I haven't imagined it, doesn't mean some kind of internal canary can't exist. Your naive code (below) of a counter might instead be based on quantum cryptography, or on intrinsic properties of a function or algorithm which if compromised the SE cannot function at all. The existence of one-time password schemes like S/KEY gives me hope, since it is a sequence generator that simply doesn't function without input of the correct next value (technically the previous value from the hash function). S/KEY itself is not the answer (wrong UX and no intrinsically escalating timer), but I wanted to illustrate that you can generate a self-validating sequence without tracking integer position. Apple apparently has a motive and the warchest for the R&D. If they're hiring cryptographers (has anyone checked?), they're acting on it.