CRI and Fairchild sign patent license agreement for DPA countermeasures
Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI), a division of Rambus Inc., and Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation have signed a patent license agreement allowing for the use of CRI's patented inventions in Fairchild's integrated circuits.
With CRI's patented technology, Fairchild's tamper-resistant integrated circuits are more securely protected against differential power analysis (DPA) and related attacks.
This license also covers software developed by Fairchild's customers when utilised on Fairchild's licensed integrated circuits.
"In today's market, protection against power analysis attacks is becoming essential and this agreement enables us to provide our customers with strong security across all of our product lines," says Dan Godbout, Marketing Director at Fairchild Semiconductor. "The DPA countermeasures technology developed by Cryptography Research is integral to the robust security solutions we are developing to protect our customers against tampering and other attacks."
"Fairchild Semiconductor is a leading global supplier of high performance power management and mobile semiconductor products and we are proud to count them among our licensees," comments Pankaj Rohatgi, technical director at Cryptography Research. "DPA countermeasures are crucial to securing electronic systems and we are excited about furthering the adoption and integration of our technology into Fairchild's anti-tamper integrated circuit solutions."
DPA is a form of attack that involves monitoring the fluctuating electrical power consumption of a target device and then using advanced statistical methods to derive cryptographic keys and other secrets.
Strong countermeasures to DPA help protect tamper-resistant products used in applications such as banking, pay television, mass transit, secure ID, and wireless telecommunications.
Cryptography Research has developed a portfolio of over seventy issued patents covering countermeasures to DPA attacks, with additional patent applications allowed or pending.
