Cryptography Research Granted Patents for Safer Smart Cards

R. A. Hettinga rah at shipwright.com
Mon Apr 19 16:53:39 EDT 2004


<http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=109&STORY=/www/story/04-19-2004/0002153896&EDATE=>

Cryptography Research Granted Patents for Safer Smart Cards

          Technology Prevents DPA Attacks to Combat Fraud and Piracy

    SAN FRANCISCO, April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Cryptography Research, Inc., a
leader in advanced security research and engineering, today announced it has
been granted several broad patents on technology that reduces fraud and piracy
by protecting smart cards and other systems from Differential Power Analysis
(DPA) attacks.  The company developed the technology to help cryptographic
device manufacturers, systems integrators, and smart card issuers develop
secure, DPA-resistant implementations for use in financial, pay television,
mass transit, secure identification and wireless industries.
    Differential Power Analysis involves measuring the electrical power
consumption of smart cards and other cryptographic devices.  Statistical
methods are then used to extract cryptographic keys and other secrets.
Vulnerable devices are at risk for compromises including fraud, cloning,
impersonation, counterfeiting, and piracy.  Although DPA attacks typically
require technical skill to implement, they can be repeated with a few thousand
dollars of standard equipment, and can often break a device in a few minutes.
DPA and related attacks were originally discovered at Cryptography Research in
the 1990s.
    "We are proud to have our work recognized by the United State Patent and
Trademark Office," said Paul Kocher, president of Cryptography Research.  "As
a research-focused company, we rely on patents to help us commercialize our
results and make our ongoing R&D efforts possible."

    The Cryptography Research DPA patents broadly cover countermeasures to DPA
attacks, and include:
    -- U.S. Patent #6,654,884:  Hardware-level mitigation and DPA
countermeasures for cryptographic devices;
    -- U.S. Patent #6,539,092:  Leak-resistant cryptographic indexed key
update;
    -- U.S. Patent #6,510,518:  Balanced cryptographic computational method
and apparatus for leak minimization in smartcards and other cryptosystems;
    -- U.S. Patent #6,381,699:  Leak-resistant cryptographic method and
apparatus;
    -- U.S. Patent #6,327,661:  Using unpredictable information to minimize
leakage from smartcards and other cryptosystems;
    -- U.S. Patent #6,304,658:  Leak-resistant cryptographic method and
apparatus;
    -- U.S. Patent #6,298,442:  Secure modular exponentiation with leak
minimization for smartcards and other cryptosystems; and
    -- U.S. Patent #6,278,783:  DES and other cryptographic, processes with
leak minimization for smartcards and other cryptosystems.

    Other Cryptography Research patents are issued and pending in the United
States, Europe, Japan, Canada and other countries.
    According to the Smart Card Alliance, an industry trade group, the United
States became the third largest market for microprocessor smart cards in 2003,
and more than 70 million smart cards shipped to the United States and Canada.
The Card Industry Directory reported over 1.9 billion worldwide smart card
shipments in 2003.

    About Cryptography Research, Inc.
    Cryptography Research, Inc. provides consulting services and technology to
solve complex security problems.  In addition to security evaluation and
applied engineering work, CRI is actively involved in long-term research in
areas including tamper resistance, content protection, network security, and
financial services.  The company also produces the DPA Workstation(TM) to help
qualified organizations analyze DPA-related security vulnerabilities and
improve their use of licensed DPA countermeasures.  This year, security
systems designed by Cryptography Research engineers will protect more than
$60 billion of commerce for wireless, telecommunications, financial, digital
television, and Internet industries.  For additional information or to arrange
a consultation with a member of the technical staff, please contact Jennifer
Craft at 415-397-0123 or visit http://www.cryptography.com.


 SOURCE Cryptography Research, Inc.
 Web Site: http://www.cryptography.com

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-- 
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R. A. Hettinga <mailto: rah at ibuc.com>
The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/>
44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA
"... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity,
[predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to
experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'

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