Cryptography Research and Infineon Technologies Sign License Agreement for Differential Power Analysis Countermeasures

Joint news release of Infineon Technologies and CRI

Aug 14, 2008 | Market News

San Francisco, CA and Neubiberg, Germany – August 14, 2008 – Cryptography Research Inc. (CRI) and Infineon Technologies AG (FSE/NYSE: IFX) today announced they have signed a license agreement on a security technology for tamper-resistant semiconductors. Under the agreement, Infineon will license CRI’s patents for countermeasures to Differential Power Analysis (DPA) and technology and patents related to CRI’s CryptoFirewall™ to help further expand its own expertise and portfolio.

With the agreement, Infineon gains the right to use CRI's patents and use CRI’s complete portfolio of patents concerning countermeasures to DPA and related attacks worldwide. “Infineon is recognized internationally for their leadership position in developing security chips for the smart card industry,” said Paul Kocher, president and chief scientist at CRI. “We are pleased that Infineon has licensed our patents covering DPA countermeasures.”

“Confidential data stored inside security controllers and smart cards are protected against a multitude of attack scenarios. Our strategy for integrating protective mechanisms that represent the most advanced technological developments is a main success factor. The license to CRI’s patents enables Infineon to provide all solutions of Infineon’s side-channel countermeasure portfolio,” said Dr. Helmut Gassel, Vice President and General Manager of the Chip Card and Security ICs Business Unit at Infineon Technologies AG. “Along with energy efficiency and communication, security is one of the three focus areas of Infineon.”

DPA is a type of “side-channel” attack that involves monitoring variations in a device’s electrical power consumption. It then uses statistical methods to extract secret cryptographic keys. Many security applications and leading certification standards such as Common Criteria require side-channel attack countermeasures. Security-certified products are used in banking, conditional access, mass transit, identification, telecommunications and other applications. In combination, hardware and software countermeasures form an ideal synergy against side channel attacks.

CRI and Infineon have also agreed to integrate CRI’s patented CryptoFirewall™ into select products of one of Infineon’s secure microcontroller platforms. The CryptoFirewall™ provides an extension to reinforce conventional conditional access systems and hardware-based authentication solutions.

About Cryptography Research, Inc.

Cryptography Research, Inc. develops and licenses 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. Security systems designed by Cryptography Research engineers protect more than $100 billion of commerce annually for the wireless, telecommunications, financial, entertainment, digital television and Internet industries. For additional information, visit www.cryptography.com  

Press contact at Cryptography Research Inc. (CRI)

EUROPE
Andrew Lloyd & Associates
Carol Leslie
+44 1273 675100
carol@ala.com  

UNITED STATES
Schwartz Communications
Dan Borgasano
+1 415 817 2543
DBorgasano@schwartz-pr.com 

About Infineon

Infineon Technologies AG, Neubiberg, Germany, offers semiconductor and system solutions addressing three central challenges to modern society: energy efficiency, communications, and security. In the 2007 fiscal year (ending September), the company reported sales of Euro 7.7 billion (including Qimonda sales of Euro 3.6 billion) with approximately 43,000 employees worldwide (including approximately 13,500 Qimonda employees). With a global presence, Infineon operates through its subsidiaries in the U.S. from Milpitas, CA, in the Asia-Pacific region from Singapore, and in Japan from Tokyo. Infineon is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and on the New York Stock Exchange (ticker symbol: IFX).

Information Number

INFAIM200808.086