Certicom Collaborates with Texas Instruments for RFID Authentication and Encryption

Certicom Collaborates with Texas Instruments for RFID Authentication and Encryption

November 29, 2006

Certicom Security for RFID Product Authentication protects high-value products against counterfeiting and ensures privacy

    DALLAS, Nov. 29 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Certicom Corp.
(TSX: CIC) today launched Certicom Security for RFID
Product Authentication, a solution that ensures
authenticity and prevents counterfeiting of high-value
items as they move through the supply chain. In
collaboration with Texas Instruments Incorporated (NYSE:
TXN) (TI) Certicom is using its elliptic curve cryptography
(ECC) expertise to add item-level RFID tag security that
protects product information and proves the legitimacy of
products, such as pharmaceuticals and other high-value
consumer goods. For products like these that require a high
level of security, RFID solutions providers can use Certicom
security and TI's family of ISO 15693 RFID tags to deliver
product protection with authentication and encryption.  

    (Logo:
http://www.xprn.com.cn:9080/xprn/sa/20061107170439-20.jpg
)

    Certicom and TI are currently engaged with companies in
the pharmaceutical supply chain where valuable medicines are
susceptible to counterfeiting, which can lead to significant
asset losses and patient consumer safety issues.  In tandem,
they are addressing the high-value goods industry where
protection of brand integrity is imperative to reducing
product theft and diversion of goods for sale on the black
market.  Examples of these products range from brand-name
apparel and cosmetics to professionally signed baseballs,
poker chips, printer ink cartridges and legal documents.  

    Certicom uses standards-based and proven cryptographic
protocols for its RFID appliance, including a standardized
public-key cryptography scheme from IEEE 1363a. This
efficient ECC-based digital signature scheme enables a high
level of security to be added to the tag without requiring a
lot of computing power and storage. For example, at 160
bits, ECC provides the same level of protection as a
1024-bit RSA key but is approximately one-third the size. 


    "By collaborating with Certicom, we demonstrate a
highly efficient, standardized security solution that
delivers privacy protection and authentication," said
Joseph Pearson, business development manager for TI RFID. 
"A standardized approach is imperative to provide a
proven level of security, and to promote interoperability
and compatibility going forward."

    Certicom Security for RFID Product Authentication works
as a distributed system where there may not be dedicated
Internet connectivity to a database, to provide real-time
authentication of a tagged product. A simple application
programming interface (API) enables developers to integrate
the product's components with RFID middleware and enterprise
applications.

    "The RFID industry is telling us that what is
needed is a security infrastructure that provides the
smallest possible standardized digital signatures, along
with privacy protection features, with integrated key
management to meet the needs of the supply chain
constituency, especially the pharmaceutical manufacturers
and retailers," said Jim Alfred, director of product
management for Certicom.  "TI has been instrumental in
providing their expertise and insight on the industry when
it comes to what is required for RFID product
authentication.  This is what we are delivering."

    Certicom Security for RFID Product Authentication will
be demonstrated at TI's Booth #3015 at the RFID Healthcare
Industry Adoption Summit at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel
in Washington, D.C., November 12-15, 2006. The Summit is
sponsored by National Association of Chain Drug Stores and
the Healthcare Distribution Management Association. 

    For more information on how TI and Certicom are
collaborating on RFID product authentication and to view
the demonstration of Certicom's new security product in
action, please visit http://www.ti.com/rfidvidcast .  For
more information on the product visit
http://www.certicom.com/rfid .

    About Texas Instruments

    Texas Instruments is the world's largest integrated
manufacturer of radio frequency identification (RFID)
transponders and reader systems. Capitalizing on its
competencies in high-volume semiconductor manufacturing and
microelectronics packaging, TI is a visionary leader and at
the forefront of establishing new markets and international
standards for RFID applications. For more information,
contact TI-RFid(TM) Systems at 1-800-962-RFID (7343) (North
America) or [phone] (International), or visit the
Web site at http://www.ti-rfid.com .

    Texas Instruments Incorporated provides innovative DSP
and analog technologies to meet our customers' real world
signal processing requirements.  In addition to
Semiconductor, the company includes the Educational &
Productivity Solutions business.  TI is headquartered in
Dallas, Texas, and has manufacturing, design or sales
operations in more than 25 countries.

    Texas Instruments is traded on the New York Stock
Exchange under the symbol TXN. More information is located
on the World Wide Web at http://www.ti.com .

    About Certicom

    Certicom protects the value of your content,
applications and devices with government-approved security.
Adopted by the National Security Agency (NSA) for classified
and sensitive but unclassified government communications,
Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) provides the most
security per bit of any known public-key scheme. As the
undisputed leader in ECC, Certicom security offerings are
currently licensed to more than 300 customers including
General Dynamics, Motorola, Oracle, Research In Motion and
Unisys. Founded in 1985, Certicom's corporate offices are
in Mississauga, ON, Canada with worldwide sales and
marketing headquarters in Reston, VA and offices in the US,
Canada and Europe. Visit http://www.certicom.com .

    Trademarks

    TI-RFid is a trademark of Texas Instruments.  All other
trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their
respective owners.

    For more information, please contact:

     Jamie Horton 
     Texas Instruments		
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

     Lisa Courtney Lloyd
     Certicom Corp. 	
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail] 	

SOURCE  Texas Instruments