omniture

Certicom Collaborates with Texas Instruments for RFID Authentication and Encryption

Texas Instruments
2006-11-30 12:21 3127

Certicom Security for RFID Product Authentication protects high-value

products against counterfeiting and ensures privacy

DALLAS, Nov. 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Certicom Corp. (TSX: CIC) today

launched Certicom Security for RFID Product Authentication, a solution that

ensures authenticity and prevents counterfeiting of high-value items as they

move through the supply chain. In collaboration with Texas Instruments

Incorporated (NYSE: TXN) (TI) Certicom is using its elliptic curve

cryptography (ECC) expertise to add item-level RFID tag security that

protects product information and proves the legitimacy of products, such as

pharmaceuticals and other high-value consumer goods. For products like these

that require a high level of security, RFID solutions providers can use

Certicom security and TI’s family of ISO 15693 RFID tags to deliver product

protection with authentication and encryption.

(Logo: http://www.prnasia.com/sa/20061107170439-20.jpg )

Certicom and TI are currently engaged with companies in the

pharmaceutical supply chain where valuable medicines are susceptible to

counterfeiting, which can lead to significant asset losses and patient

consumer safety issues. In tandem, they are addressing the high-value goods

industry where protection of brand integrity is imperative to reducing

product theft and diversion of goods for sale on the black market. Examples

of these products range from brand-name apparel and cosmetics to

professionally signed baseballs, poker chips, printer ink cartridges and

legal documents.

Certicom uses standards-based and proven cryptographic protocols for its

RFID appliance, including a standardized public-key cryptography scheme from

IEEE 1363a. This efficient ECC-based digital signature scheme enables a high

level of security to be added to the tag without requiring a lot of computing

power and storage. For example, at 160 bits, ECC provides the same level of

protection as a 1024-bit RSA key but is approximately one-third the size.

“By collaborating with Certicom, we demonstrate a highly efficient,

standardized security solution that delivers privacy protection and

authentication,” said Joseph Pearson, business development manager for TI

RFID. “A standardized approach is imperative to provide a proven level of

security, and to promote interoperability and compatibility going forward.”

Certicom Security for RFID Product Authentication works as a distributed

system where there may not be dedicated Internet connectivity to a database,

to provide real-time authentication of a tagged product. A simple application

programming interface (API) enables developers to integrate the product’s

components with RFID middleware and enterprise applications.

“The RFID industry is telling us that what is needed is a security

infrastructure that provides the smallest possible standardized digital

signatures, along with privacy protection features, with integrated key

management to meet the needs of the supply chain constituency, especially the

pharmaceutical manufacturers and retailers,” said Jim Alfred, director of

product management for Certicom. “TI has been instrumental in providing

their expertise and insight on the industry when it comes to what is required

for RFID product authentication. This is what we are delivering.”

Certicom Security for RFID Product Authentication will be demonstrated at

TI’s Booth #3015 at the RFID Healthcare Industry Adoption Summit at the

Marriott Wardman Park Hotel in Washington, D.C., November 12-15, 2006. The

Summit is sponsored by National Association of Chain Drug Stores and the

Healthcare Distribution Management Association.

For more information on how TI and Certicom are collaborating on RFID

product authentication and to view the demonstration of Certicom’s new

security product in action, please visit http://www.ti.com/rfidvidcast . For

more information on the product visit http://www.certicom.com/rfid .

About Texas Instruments

Texas Instruments is the world’s largest integrated manufacturer of

radio frequency identification (RFID) transponders and reader systems.

Capitalizing on its competencies in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing

and microelectronics packaging, TI is a visionary leader and at the forefront

of establishing new markets and international standards for RFID

applications. For more information, contact TI-RFid(TM) Systems at 1-800-962-

RFID (7343) (North America) or +1 214-567-7343 (International), or visit the

Web site at http://www.ti-rfid.com .

Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP and analog

technologies to meet our customers’ real world signal processing

requirements. In addition to Semiconductor, the company includes the

Educational & Productivity Solutions business. TI is headquartered in

Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales operations in more than

25 countries.

Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the

symbol TXN. More information is located on the World Wide Web at

http://www.ti.com .

About Certicom

Certicom protects the value of your content, applications and devices

with government-approved security. Adopted by the National Security Agency

(NSA) for classified and sensitive but unclassified government

communications, Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides the most security

per bit of any known public-key scheme. As the undisputed leader in ECC,

Certicom security offerings are currently licensed to more than 300 customers

including General Dynamics, Motorola, Oracle, Research In Motion and Unisys.

Founded in 1985, Certicom’s corporate offices are in Mississauga, ON, Canada

with worldwide sales and marketing headquarters in Reston, VA and offices in

the US, Canada and Europe. Visit http://www.certicom.com .

Trademarks

TI-RFid is a trademark of Texas Instruments. All other trademarks and

registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Source: Texas Instruments
collection