Infineon sells 1.5 billion chips for passport and ID security

Infineon Technologies has sold 1.5 billion security chips with Integrity Guard technology for passport and ID security.

The technology features a complex digital security architecture and includes a fully encrypted data path and a self-checking dual CPU core. Even if attackers eavesdrop on the data signals, all they see is encrypted and illegible information.

Integrity Guard was developed for applications with high data security requirements for a particularly long life cycle.

“With Integrity Guard we provide an unrivalled security solution for the connected world through one of the world’s most advanced technologies,” said Thomas Rosteck, Division President of Chip Card & Security, Infineon Technologies.

Integrity Guard is a security technology inspired by the storage and processing of information within living cells – more specifically, the double helix of DNA. The technical realization of this innovation equips controllers with robust digital mechanisms. These protect secure data and monitor security conditions. Through Integrity Guard, the controller reacts autonomously to security threats. At the core of this self-checking design is a double CPU that performs a continuous self-check of all operations. This results in “integrity protection” – hence the name “Integrity Guard.”

Another key element of Integrity Guard is its comprehensive encryption of the entire data path, preventing plain text from appearing in plain sight on chips. It is still the first time ever in the history of commercial security controllers that both CPUs make use of fully hardware-encrypted algorithms with different dynamic keys. This is only possible because Infineon, having facilitated the integration of real encrypted operations, has implemented the CPUs from scratch. Infineon’s SLE 78 family has set new standards for government ID projects.

Building on this success, Infineon launched the SLC 52G as its next-generation security controller family. In combination with the existing SLE 78 product family, the extended SLC 52G portfolio is prepared to meet governmental identification requirements beyond 2020.