Bank-level security bought to smart devices

At Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Infineon will exhibit security solutions in various form factors meeting the needs of mobile payment ecosystems.

“The success of mobile payment services depends on consumers’ confidence. Mobile payment solutions must therefore be as secure and as proven as card-based payment transactions,” says Thomas Rosteck, Vice President and General Manager of Infineon’s Secure Mobile & Transaction business. “Our products bring bank-level security to smart and mobile devices and help to make mobile payment as easy-to-use and convenient as possible.”

Demand for mobile payment is growing rapidly with smartphones, tablets, smart wearables, vehicles or appliances being increasingly connected to the internet. Research company eMarketer forecasts that the total value of mobile payment transactions in the US alone will triple within one year to $27bn in 2016. And with billions of devices to be connected in the IoT, online payment opportunities requiring authentication-based remote payment systems is expected to skyrocket.

The mobile payment ecosystem demands solutions that combine convenience with bank-level security on connected devices. Infineon’s security chips are already featured in 40% of the world’s smart cards.

Infineon provides the industry’s broadest portfolio of financial security chips and solutions that perform as crypto-engine and secured storage of sensitive data such as keys, certificates or biometric information for electronic payment transactions. The products lead in terms of contactless infrastructure interoperability and are certified according to globally recognised security standards such as Common Criteria and EMVCo (Europay International, MasterCard, VISA).

For secured proximity payment, Infineon provides chips and solutions that bring reliability, security and convenience to e.g. NFC payments. Among these are:

• contactless security chips for smart cards issued in billions of pieces by banks and financial institutions worldwide
• NFC SIMs using Infineon’s SWP (Single Wire Protocol) product family deployed by mobile network providers for mobile devices
• embedded Secure Elements that are deployed in embedded security solutions by market leaders such as Samsung and Lenovo
• Boosted NFC Secure Elements which, compared to conventional NFC controller solutions, require 80% less printed circuit board footprint and half the stand-by power – both are crucial for smart wearable devices.

Remote online payment is also poised for growth with regard to the billions of connected devices expected in the IoT. In these emerging markets, hardware security could build a solid foundation to protect data as well as the platform integrity of mobile devices – for example to enable convenient biometric authentication for online applications. One option for multi-factor authentication is FIDO (Fast IDentity Online), which drives strong yet simple online authentication. Infineon actively contributes to the development of FIDO specifications and has released FIDO Certified USB Token reference designs and standard-compliant products.