Cryptography Research, Inc.

Cryptography Research, Inc. Cryptography Research, Inc. was a private company specializing in applied cryptography and hardware security. Founded in 1989 by Paul Kocher, it became known for advancing techniques in side-channel analysis, tamper resistance, and standards influence across the integrated circuit and payments industries. The company operated at the intersection of academic research and commercial engineering, collaborating with institutions such as MIT, Stanford University, RSA Security, and Intel while later becoming a subsidiary of Rambus.

History

Cryptography Research, Inc. was established in 1989 in the San Francisco Bay Area by Paul Kocher, a researcher with ties to the RSA Conference community and contributors to the American Cryptogram Association. In the 1990s the firm published influential work on timing attacks and differential power analysis that resonated with researchers at Bell Labs, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and DARPA. The company provided consulting and engineering to major firms including Microsoft, Apple Inc., Visa', Mastercard, and semiconductor vendors such as Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, and NVIDIA. Throughout the 2000s, Cryptography Research advised standards bodies like the National Institute of Standards and Technology and contributed expertise used by EMVCo and the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council. In 2011 the firm was acquired by Rambus, joining a portfolio that included prior collaborations with Samsung Electronics and Micron Technology; key personnel retained ties to academic groups at UC Berkeley and Carnegie Mellon University.

Products and Technologies

The company developed hardware and software countermeasures for embedded systems, offering products such as tamper-resistant integrated circuits and white-box implementations used by clients in the smartcard and payment terminal markets. Technologies included defenses against side-channel attacks, relying on techniques validated in peer-reviewed venues like the Crypto (conference), Eurocrypt, and ACM CCS. Cryptography Research marketed toolkits and evaluation services used by vendors of secure element chips, EMV terminals, and set-top boxes from providers like Broadcom and Advanced Micro Devices. The firm also produced intellectual property in the form of patents and licensing arrangements; across semiconductor collaborations with TSMC and GlobalFoundries, they addressed threats to hardware root-of-trust implementations and secure boot mechanisms deployed in products by Sony and LG Electronics.

Research and Publications

Researchers at the company authored influential papers on timing attacks, differential power analysis, and fault injection, publishing in forums including IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy, Usenix Security Symposium, and NDSS. Collaboration with academics from Princeton University, Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and ETH Zurich resulted in empirical studies that shaped countermeasure design adopted by vendors such as NXP Semiconductors and Infineon Technologies. The company maintained a technical report series and white papers that were cited by scholarship on side-channel leakage, white-box cryptography, and formal verification; its authors participated in panels at Black Hat, DEF CON, and the RSA Conference. Notable contributions included methodologies later referenced by standards bodies like ISO/IEC JTC 1 and national laboratories including NIST.

Legal and Security Incidents

Cryptography Research personnel were involved in public security disclosures and expert testimony in litigation involving companies such as Sony Computer Entertainment, Google, and Microsoft Corporation. The firm’s analyses have been referenced in regulatory discussions before agencies like the Federal Trade Commission and courts in matters touching on intellectual property and product security. In several high-profile incidents, researchers demonstrated vulnerabilities in consumer devices that prompted coordinated disclosure with manufacturers including Samsung Electronics and Motorola Mobility. Litigation and licensing negotiations over patents and technology transfers involved counterparties such as Broadcom Corporation and Qualcomm, with some disputes reaching civil courts and administrative proceedings.

Corporate Structure and Ownership

Originally privately held and led by founder Paul Kocher and cofounders drawing from the cryptology community, the company expanded into a professional services and licensing organization with regional offices supporting customers in North America, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. In 2011 the firm became a subsidiary of Rambus, integrating its activities into Rambus’s product and intellectual property strategy alongside partnerships with corporations such as Samsung, SK Hynix, and Toshiba. Management and technical leadership maintained academic collaborations with institutions like UC San Diego and Cornell University, and former employees have taken roles at startups and corporations including Zcash Company and Chainalysis. The corporate lineage is reflected in ongoing patent portfolios and licensing arrangements across the semiconductor, payments, and embedded-systems sectors.

Category:Computer security companies