Rambus agreed to acquire privately-held Cryptography Research, Inc. (CRI), which specializes in semiconductor security, for an aggregate of $342.5 million comprised of $167.5 million in cash, approximately 6.4 million shares of Rambus stock, and $50 million payable to CRI employees in cash or stock over three years.
CRI holds numerous patents for content protection, network security, anti-counterfeiting and financial services.
Over five billion semiconductor products secured by CRI’s technology are made under license annually. CRI’s licensees include leading semiconductor, electronics and services companies such as Atmel, Infineon, Microsoft, NXP, Raytheon, Renesas, Samsung, STMicroelectronics, Toshiba, and Visa.
CRI, which is based in San Francisco, is led by internationally renowned cryptographer and scientist Paul Kocher, whose accomplishments include helping author the SSL 3.0 standard, discovering differential power analysis (DPA), as well as developing techniques for securing electronic systems against DPA attacks.
DPA attacks involve monitoring the fluctuating electrical power consumption of a target device and then using advanced statistical methods to derive cryptographic keys and other secrets. With CRI’s DPA countermeasures, electronic systems and security devices, such as smart cards, are protected from DPA attacks.http://www.rambus.com http://www.cryptography.com
