Chip maker Infineon has launched a secure element IC designed to be embedded in NFC-enabled mobile phones.

The SLE 97144SE uses the company’s Integrity Guard technology to ensure that sensitive data is handled at the very highest security levels.

“Mobile devices are used for two to three years on average and in many parts of the world SIM cards have become short-lived disposable items,” Infineon explains. This means that “a higher degree of security is expected of the embedded secure element than of the NFC chip for SIM card or microSD card.”

“That is why Infineon’s multi-award-winning ‘Integrity Guard’ security technology — developed specifically for payment applications, among others — is used in the embedded secure element,” the company adds. “As a result, the data is stored in encrypted form and remains encrypted for processing along the entire data path (CPUs, memories, caches and buses). The embedded secure element security microcontroller has two central processing units and a sophisticated error detection system.”

“NFC changes the way we use mobile phones,” says Dr Helmut Gassel, president of Infineon’s chip card and security division. “With our security microcontrollers, mobile phones offer NFC functionality that is secure, convenient and efficient.

“2011 will see most NFC-enabled mobile devices using Infineon’s NFC chips,” Gassel added.

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