Cryptography research: 4.5 billion chips under license
Thursday 28 January 2010 at 11:08 :: #277
Cryptography Research (CRI) announced that in 2009, more than 4.5 billion security chips were manufactured under license to CRI’s semiconductor security technologies. The company’s business and technical growth in 2009 result from long-term investments in developing solutions to challenging and costly security and piracy challenges. Since mid-2008, Cryptography Research has signed a series of agreements with semiconductor vendors and other important stakeholders in the smart card industry value chain. Cryptography Research licensees include : Infineon (cf. Smart Insights Weekly #08-38), Renesas, (cf. SIW #08-39), NXP (cf. SIW 08-46), MasterCard (cf. SIW 09-21), Samsung Electronics (cf. SIW #09-25), Inside Contactless, Atmel, and EM Microelectronic – Marin (cf. SIW 09-37), and ST Microelectronics (cf. SIW 09-48). Also in 2009, MasterCard began requiring that its suppliers have a license from CRI. CRI says its licensed DPA countermeasures are now found in more than 95% of smart cards produced annually.
CRI’s growth has solidified the company’s position as one of the world’s leading intellectual property (IP) licensors to the semiconductor industry. « Our focus on delivering security solutions with easily-measurable and compelling ROI for our customers has been successful despite the challenging economic climate, and will continue to serve us well in 2010 and beyond", said Paul Kocher, president and chief scientist at CRI.
Differential Power Analysis (DPA) is a form of attack that involves monitoring variations in the electrical power consumption of a target device, then using advanced statistical methods to derive cryptographic keys and other secrets. CRI developed the fundamental patents for DPA countermeasures and has licensed them to all major chip makers in the smart card industry. DPA countermeasures are mandatory under the standard Common Criteria protection profiles for smart cards, as well as other security standards.
In 2010, CRI plans to broaden its licensing focus for DPA countermeasures, including additional efforts to enroll manufacturers of hardware for government products, mobile devices and other commercial and consumer products where security is important.
CRI also experienced increased adoption of its other flagship technology, the CryptoFirewall security core. The CryptoFirewall security core, now integrated into more than 75 million pay television set-top boxes worldwide, is a self-contained hardware security core designed to protect cryptographic keys and computations in a chip from attack even if surrounding components are compromised.