Samsung Electronics announced that two chips designed for combination (contact and non-contact) smart cards, in 72KB and 144KB capacities with embedded EEPROM, have been given Common Criteria (CC) certification and an Evaluation Assurance Level (EAL) 4+ rating.

Samsung now satisfies the product standards used in such smart card applications as electronic passports and electronic identification, which require an extremely high level of data security.

"Samsung's Common Criteria compliant smart card IC for electronic passports supports the high-performance and high-level security requirements for applications carrying personal information” said Chilhee Jung, senior vice president, System LSI division, Samsung Electronics.

Samsung's newly certified portfolio includes both a 72KB and a 144KB smart card IC, the latter being the highest capacity currently available. Both ICs offer sufficient storage space for diverse biological data (face, fingerprints, retina, and genetic makeup) required by biometric identification systems.

In 1999, CC certification was selected as the international standard for assessing a product’s data security capabilities. CC provides the basis for confirming the reliability and safety of security-related functions in IC cards used in electronic IDs, electronic passports, and electronic driver's licenses. Higher EAL ratings indicate more accurate and effective data security capabilities. An EAL 4+ rating is required for products such as electronic passports that have strict security requirements.

The International Civil Aviation Organization now recommends that all countries adopt electronic passports that cannot be forged or altered to help prevent the spread of international crime and terrorist acts. Starting in Europe, at least thirty-five countries have already adopted electronic passports with embedded integrated circuits. The US Congress has passed legislation stating that all countries participating in the Visa Waiver Program with the United States must now issue electronic passports and the Korean government will also implement an e-passport system in 2008.

Samsung's smart card IC provides high performance and high reliability for protecting user-identity. The new combination smart card consists of a high-performance, 16-bit CalmRISC CPU, an RSA public key encryption algorithm, a Triple-DES (a symmetric key algorithm for encryption), and an advanced encryption standard (AES) algorithm. An attack-prevention design technology has also been applied to help prevent the possibility of personal data loss to hackers.

Also built into the smart cards is the International Standards Organization (ISO) 14443 A/B type contactless function, providing fast and stable data links between the card and the card reader in non-contact situations.