Cracking Client != Cracking Server (Score 1)

The only way to prevent cracking is if the processor's computation takes place at company's "server". As long as the actual processing is done on the client side, the server isn't even needed. The cracker only needs one legitimate chip with one legitimate key, to witness the proper functioning of the chip. Then the chip's basic functionality can be recreated in a new design, without any encryption or server. This is basic stuff... The real story is how engineers at Rice University and the University of Michigan got such a story into the news.