Completely accurate, particularly around the "don't tell them it's an 8051" clones.
I have a friend that used to reverse engineers all sorts of embedded black box products and he's said "when there's no markings or other clues, assume it's some kind of 8051 and see where you get". That might not be as true these days with ubiquitous ARMs and sub 10 cent Chinese/Taiwanese microcontrollers (many apparently PIC12 knockoffs[1]), but it apparently worked for a long time.
I have a friend that used to reverse engineers all sorts of embedded black box products and he's said "when there's no markings or other clues, assume it's some kind of 8051 and see where you get". That might not be as true these days with ubiquitous ARMs and sub 10 cent Chinese/Taiwanese microcontrollers (many apparently PIC12 knockoffs[1]), but it apparently worked for a long time.
[1] https://cpldcpu.wordpress.com/2019/08/12/the-terrible-3-cent...