IP: Crypto Cards

[Dave Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>]

From: "David K. Merriman" <merriman () arn net>






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- From 29 Jan edition of EE Times, P 24:


"Aix-en-Provence, France - A startup formed here to capitalize on the
interest in cryptographic smart cards has won an assignment that could help
put its name on the data-security map. The company, Inside Technologies, has
been selectedby the Open Microprocessor Systems Initiative (OMI) to do the
combo-chip layout for OMI's Cryptographic Reduced Instruction Set Processor
(Crisp) project."
...
"'In public-key cryptography, 512-bit keys are typical and already
vulnerable. So we are looking at 640-bit-long keys supported by a scalable
design' said [IT partnet William Orme]. He said that conventional smart-card
ICs tend to be based on available 8-bit microcontrollers and, sometimes,
cryptographic processors.
Because it iss designed specifically for smart-card applications, the 8-bit
RISC processor will require only 2,500 gates. Conventional crypto
coprocessors tend to support only one type of algroithm, such as Rivest,
Shamir, Adleman (RSA) or the Data Encryption Standard (DES).
Orme said that by designing the CLU at a lower level of granularity,
multiplies and squaring operations, calculations can be built up in the form
of building blocks and can support a variety of algroithms adn key lengths.
'Users want their own, custom algrotihms, which can be downloaded at the
time of use', he said.
The CLU should support RSA, DES, and the Digital Signature Standard (DSS).
RSA optimization will cover 320-, 512-, and 640-bit key lengths.
'The CLU will operate at a higher clock frequency than the RISC - 60 MHz, in
our design - yielding 640-bit RSA decrypt in less than 50mS', Orme said."


Dave Merriman
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