Group Developing Standards For Secure Cell Phone Hardware

Sept. 27, 2005
By Rick Merritt
EE Times

SAN JOSE, Calif. ? An ad hoc industry group has taken its first step toward delivering in the first half of 2006 a hardware-security standard for cellphones.

The Trusted Computing Group released 11 user scenarios that are the basis for the spec it will release before next June.

The TCG established a standard for verifying the integrity of PCs more than a year ago. It specifies use of a security device, called the Trusted Platform Module (TPM), that creates cryptographic keys to identify a system?s integrity and provide secure data storage and execution space as needed. Developing a version of that spec for the more complex mobile sector has so far proved slow going.

That is due in part to the wide variety and diversity of stakeholders in the cellular industry. Active members in the TCG?s mobile work group include Authentec, Ericsson, France Telecom, IBM, Infineon, Intel, Lenovo, Motorola, Nokia, Philips, Samsung, Sony, STMicroelectronics, Texas Instruments, VeriSign, Vodaphone and Wave Systems."