NEW YORK-Beware would-be smart card hackers, Schlumberger Test and Transactions, San
Jose, Calif., has developed ‘SiShell’, a process that renders the chip likely to self-destruct if someone tampers with
it.
Now commercially available, SiShell allows wafer makers to place over the active surface of each chip a silicon
cap, which is sealed during production.
“Once (it is) in place, attempts to gain access (to the chip) using
chemical agents or mechanical means are circumvented,” Schlumberger said.
“The SiShell solution … is
structured in such a way that physical attempts at access threaten to destroy the chip, (but) this does not affect
functionality in any way.”
Schlumberger called the technique “well understood … and simple to perform
by semiconductor manufacturers.”
The Subscriber Identity Module, or SIM cards, which are used in Global
System for Mobile communications handsets, are a type of smart card.
