I thought security chips put (extra?) metallization over top the logic to prevent the microscope problem. Do they not or can that still be defeated? I guess if you're careful enough you can strip off that extra layer
People are very creative in defeating those mechanisms. It's mostly a question of time. Also doesn't help if there's some side channel or software leak.
The only "truly" 'safe-ish' thing is active battery powered intrusion detection. It's done for high end HSMs… which easily sell for 5 or 6 digit prices.
