Samsung will launch a new standalone turnkey security chip to protect mobile devices, the company announced today.
The chip, which has the said-once-never-forgotten name “S3FV9RR” – aka the Mobile SE Guardian 4 – is a follow-up to the dedicated security silicon baked into the Galaxy S20 smartphone series launched in February 2020.
The new chip is Common Criteria Assurance Level 6+ certified, the highest certification that a mobile component has received, according to Samsung. CC EAL 6+ is used in e-passports and hardware wallets for cryptocurrency.
It has twice the storage capacity of the first-gen chip and supports device authorisation, hardware-based root of trust, and secure boot features. When a bootloader initiates, the chip initiates a chain of trust sequence to validate each components’ firmware. The chip can also work independently from the device’s main processor to ensure tighter security.
“In this era of mobility and contactless interactions, we expect our connected devices, such as smart phones or tablets, to be highly secure so as to protect personal data and enable fintech activities such as mobile banking, stock trading and cryptocurrency transactions,” said Dongho Shin, senior vice president of marketing at Samsung System LSI, which makes logic chips for the South Korean conglomerate.
“With the new standalone security element solution (S3FV9RR), Samsung is mounting a powerful deadbolt on smart devices to safeguard private information.” Which should be handy for all manner of devices – perhaps even Internet of things devices.
Source: Galaxy S20 security is already old hat as Samsung launches new safety silicon • The Register
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