Two smartcard controllers from ST Microelectronics have become the industry’s first devices certified to Evaluation Assurance Level 5+ (EAL 5+) of CC v3.1 (Common Criteria version 3.1), the latest revision of the ISO/IEC 15408 Common Criteria for IT security products.
The ST23YL80 and ST23YL18 secure ICs have been designed to support highly secure applications such as PayTV, ID cards, IT security and Payment. The ST23YL platform features a 8/16-bit secure processor, secure non-volatile memory and a cryptographic co-processor (Nescrypt) supporting fast and secure public key algorithms such as RSA and Elliptic Curves.
The devices are built using ST Microelectronics’ 0.13-micron EEPROM process, resulting in small chip size, low power consumption, and consistently high quality. Common Criteria v3.1, the latest version of the Common Criteria, enables widespread mutual recognition of secure IT products used by commercial organisations and government bodies globally.
EAL 5+ is the highest achieved assurance level for commercial products, and allows the ST23YL controllers to be used directly in smartcards for highly secure applications with no further reassessment or acceptance testing required. In addition, for Payment systems, the ST23YL Secure ICs are also certified by EMVCo and have been recently assessed as suitable for the German market by ZKA authorities.
ST Microelectronics, are supporters for formal security evaluation of smartcard controllers to international standards. In 2000, ST Microelectronics became the first company to achieve CC certification for a smartcard IC, when their ST19 microcontroller was certified to CC EAL 4 Augmented, and has consistently certified their products to high assurance levels for commercial applications.