I know some paytv satellite system hackers would read a TSOP flash chip by using a PLCC socket on a PCB that would fit upside down onto the MCU because the pins

I know some paytv satellite system hackers would read a TSOP flash chip by using a PLCC socket on a PCB that would fit upside down onto the MCU because the pins were easier to connect to. All of the flash pins went to the MCU, so this worked more conveniently. Most of this knowledge has been lost (this was like 20 years ago), but wikipedia mentions the "sombrero de patel" (because it's like a PCB "hat" over the mainboard) here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_decryption https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pirate_decryption Since they only needed to extract a small key, it had 1-2x Atmel 8515s to do the work (which were used for other paytv applications, so not hard for people to scrounge once they build the board).