Home > Business > Tech

New Samsung-developed security chip can defend against quantum hackers

Published: 26 Feb. 2025, 17:54

JIN EUN-SOO
[email protected]

Samsung Electronics' new S3SSE2A security chip, far right, sends only secured data to the main processor to better protect sensitive data from hacking by quantum computers. [SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS]

Samsung Electronics has finished developing a chip design that prevents hacking risks from quantum computers and is ready to ship samples.

The Korean chipmaker's System LSI division, in charge of designing chips, said Wednesday it has developed industry's first security chip equipped with hardware post-quantum cryptography (PQC), named S3SSE2A.

PQC is security technology built into a computer chip to protect data from potential attacks from quantum computers.

It is considered better at safeguarding data from attacks by quantum computers, which can process complex calculations at exponentially faster rates than existing ones, giving them better chance of breaking current encryption methods relying on only software solutions.

“Existing security systems and algorithms could be rendered powerless as early as 2028, just three years from now,” said Samsung Electronics in a blog post.

“With S3SSE2A, the critical data on your phone can be protected from quantum computing threats.”

The new chip design, according to Samsung Electronics, works independently from the main chip, allowing it to keep sensitive information on its own while sending only the secured data to the central controller. It also supports new security standards set by the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology known as FIPS 204.

The combination of hardware and software for PQC allows the S3SSE2A to process encryption tasks 17 times faster than software-only solutions, according to the company.

BY JIN EUN-SOO [[email protected]]