Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said today it has developed a new “secure element chip” that will help to protect sensitive data stored on mobile devices.

The new chip, called the S3FV9RR, will be offered as a standalone solution along with its associated security software.

The Common Criteria organization, which certifies the security level of information technology hardware, has given the chip a Common Criteria Evaluation Assurance Level 6+ certification. Common Criteria ranks technology products from EAL0 to EAL7, with the latter being the most secure rating. Samsung said the 6+ certification is the highest rating ever given to a mobile device component.

The company said the chip is designed to protect smartphones and tablet devices when performing tasks such as booting, isolated storage and mobile payments.

The S3FV9RR chip can also be used for devices such as cryptocurrency hardware wallets and e-passports, as well as hardware-based root of trust and device authentication, the company said. In addition, it can work independently from the security performance of a device’s main processor.

The company plans to make the chip available in the third quarter. It deployed a similar security chip with an EAL5 certification in February in its Galaxy S20 smartphone series.

Image: Samsung