Dec. 18, 2002  Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world’s leading manufacturer of advanced smart card solutions, today announced that its 64KB smart card with crypto functions, product code S3CC9PB, has received EAL4+ level Common Criteria (CC) certification. The advanced security requirement makes the new smart card an attractive solution for security-sensitive applications such as SIM cards, E-money, Java and MULTOS cards.

Common Criteria, which is being considered as a global standard, is an international standard for the evaluation of the security of IT products. Originated by European, US and Canadian security agencies, CC has recently been adopted as an ISO standard (ISO/ISEC 15408). EAL represents the level of confidence of an IT security product or system evaluated with Common Criteria. The Europe digital signature legislation requires an EAL4 level of compliance. Samsung’s S3CC9PB features a high-density 64Kbyte EEPROM and 1024bit RSA crypto processor along with a 3-DES engine that covers diverse cryptographic technologies to satisfy high memory density and security features to support the implementation of electronic signature for E-commerce.

“Security is key to the true implementation of data transmission, especially financial transactions through advanced future telecommunication networks such as IMT-2000 and 3G GSM wireless communications,” said Chil-Hee Chung, vice president of the smart card technology team at Samsung Electronics’ System LSI business. “Samsung continues to add industry-standard technologies to its diverse product lineup to support and establish a more reliable service for consumers.”

Samsung received the Europay/Master Card/Visa (EMV) technology standard for its 8Kbyte combi smart card in January 2002. The Common Criteria certification ensures that Samsung’s products offer industry-standard security features.

The global demand for smart cards in SIM cards and mobile applications is expected to grow with the introduction of IMT 2000 and 2.5/ 3G GSM services. Market researcher Datamonitor predicts the global smart card market to grow from $4.3billion in 2002 to$8.1billion in 2006, a CAGR of 25.6%.

The S3CC9PB is scheduled for mass production by the end of the year.

About Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. is a wholly owned US subsidiary of Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Headquartered in Seoul, Korea, Samsung Electronics is a mainstay of the global electronics industry. It is the world’s leader in DRAM memory, SRAM memory, and TFT-LCD display products for industrial, mobile and desktop computing applications. Samsung Electronics is one of the world’s largest semiconductor companies overall with a full line of semiconductor products including Flash memory, microprocessor and custom ASIC components. Samsung Semiconductor, Inc. is located in San Jose, California. For more information, please visit our website: http://www.usa.samsungsemi.com.  CONTACT: TMP PR (for Samsung Semiconductor)
Anita Giani, 408/737-0285
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