Supergeek pulls off 'near impossible' crypto chip hack

The attack can force heavily secured computers to spill documents that likely were presumed to be safe.

"It's sort of doing the impossible," Moss said. "This is a lock on Pandora's box. And now that he's pried open the lock, it's like, ooh, where does it lead you?"

Infineon said it knew this type of attack was possible when it was testing its chips. But the company said independent tests determined that the hack would require such a high skill level that there was a limited chance of it affecting many users.