Hong Kong Government to Use Infineon's Chip Card Technology in Smart Identification Card Project

Munich, Germany – June 10, 2002 – Infineon Technologies, the world’s leading supplier of integrated circuits for chip cards, today announced that it will supply secure microcontroller chips for use in smart identification (ID) cards being issued by the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR).

The new Smart Identity Card System (SMARTICS) which will be implemented by the Hong Kong SAR starting in July 2003, will ultimately replace laminated plastic photo ID cards now carried by all citizens 11 years of age or older. The system uses a multi-application smart card that incorporates the MULTOS operating system of Australian Keycorp Limited and secure microcontrollers manufactured by Infineon.

The SMARTICS card will be used for personal identification and authentication, as a drivers license, and as a library card. Printed information and a photo will be visible on the card surface. The microcontroller chip incorporated into the card securely stores an individual name, date of birth, and ID number. Additionally, it will store data on the digital characteristics of the card holder’s thumbprint. This will allow officials to verify identity using biometric data. This data only includes the relative position of the fingerprint characteristics and not the fingerprint as a whole. This technique eliminates the possibility of reconstructing the original fingerprint from this data.

Under the first phase of this project, the Government of Hong Kong SAR has ordered 1.2 million SMARTICS cards. Hong Kong law requires all citizens above the age of eleven to carry an identity card, and the estimated total number of cards to meet this requirement is about 6.8 million.

“The Hong Kong SAR Government has listed data privacy and data security as two core priorities in this project, and we are gratified that they have chosen Keycorp’s implementation of MULTOS running on Infineon’s controllers as the leading technologies that best meet their highly stringent requirements,” Richard Cusson, General Manager, Smart Cards, at Keycorp.

“Infineon is pleased to be part of this landmark smart card project through Keycorp, which confirms our position as global leaders in chip card ICs. Our 66Plus product family is a proven, highly secure multi-application platform, and together with Keycorp’s MULTOS implementation, will provide the Hong Kong SAR Government with a premium security solution,” said Dr. Hermann Eul, Chief Executive Officer, business group Security & Chip Card ICs at Infineon Technologies.

Infineon’s 66Plus microcontrollers are a proven multi-application smart card platform. The chip used in the SMARTICS card is certified with an effectiveness level of “high” for evaluation level E4 in the “Information Technology Security Evaluation Criteria” (ITSEC) testing scheme is compliant with the most severe security criteria currently defined for chip card ICs. Keycorp's MULTOS implementation is certified with the highest ITSEC level E6. This combination of chips and software, each certified with highest security rating, means that the SMARTICS card provides the highest level of security available.

The contract for Phase 1 of the SMARTICS system was awarded to a consortium, led by PCCW Business e-Solutions Ltd., a subsidiary of Pacific Century CyberWorks. Other members of the consortium are ACI Worldwide and Cogent Systems from the US, SecureNet Asia from Hong Kong, Mondex International from the UK, Trub AG from Switzerland, and Keycorp from Australia.

Further information on the 66Plus family of microcontrollers can be found on the web at www.infineon.com/security_and_chipcard_ics