Our Purpose

IC System Security - Round Table (ICSS-RT) was established on March 18, 2009, with the participation of related organizations and companies.

The main objective of the establishment of ICSS-RT is to ensure the security of Smart cards(IC Cards) so that they can be used safely in various fields, including public and transportation cards and electronic payments such as credit cards and e-money. As a means of ensuring this security, we first worked on the Common Criteria (CC) and achieved third-party evaluation and certification based on ISO/IEC 15408. Since this start, we have exchanged information, including personal exchanges with similar counterparts overseas.

The purpose of this association is to “discuss all matters related to the overall assurance of the security of IC chip-based devices and the application systems that use such devices. Participants include application system users, system software suppliers, device suppliers, evaluation and testing organizations, certification bodies, and research institutes.

  • This association is a forum for all parties to discuss the security of the system LSI chips themselves and the applications in which they are mounted in a round table format (Round Table).
  • In the future, the association will not be limited to the smart card field, but will also focus on overall security for telecommunications and broadcasting equipment, information appliances, etc.
  • Steadily expand from the smart card field in cooperation with similar counterparts overseas.
  • Discuss issues related to CC certification, but the scope of discussion will go beyond that to include the overall security assurance of the system LSI chips themselves and the applications in which they are mounted.

History

YearOur TopicsRelated social trends
March 2009General meeting of IC System Security - Round Table (ICSS-RT) held at Gakushi-Kaikan, Hitotsubashi, Tokyo (March 18)
FY2009 to FY2011IC System Security - Round Table (ICSS-RT) served as the secretariat (at that time) for the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry(METI)'s “Information Security Measures Promotion Project for Enterprises and Individuals (Development of Advanced Large-Scale Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Security Evaluation Technology (System LSI Security Evaluation System))” from FY2009 to FY2011. (ECSEC Association / now SCU Corporation), which served as the secretariat of the IC System Security Association (at that time), was entrusted with the project.
June 2009The first ICSS-RT board meeting was held.
July 2009CC Evaluation and Certification Subcommittee (IC System Security Japan Consortium : ICSS-JC) established within ICSS-RT (July 22, 2009)
December 20091st ICSS-JC Steering Meeting held.
July 2010ICSS-JC delegates meeting approves the establishment of ICSS-JC SWGs (subcommittees); ICSS-JC SWG1 (guidance for hardware evaluation), ICSS-JC SWG2 (small payment terminal PP), and ICSS-JC SWG3 (attack database) are established sequentially
January 20112011 ICSS-JC SWG4 (Multi-application Platform PP) is established.
April 2011Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry releases “List of Product Fields Certified under the IT Security Evaluation and Certification System,” making CC certification mandatory for IC card procurement in principle.
May 2011ICSS-JC SWG 5 (review of attack method scoring method) and ICSS-JC SWG 6 (examination of new attack methods, etc.) established.
December 2011Opinion paper “The Future of Chip Security in Japan” was submitted to the Information Security Policy Office, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau, METI, under the name of ICSS-RT.
September 2012"The results, including the joint-use facilities established in this project (FY 2009-2011 Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry-commissioned project ‘Development of Advanced Large-Scale Semiconductor Integrated Circuit Security Evaluation Technology (System LSI Security Evaluation System)’), were taken over by the current ECSEC Laboratory Ltd (formerly known as the Electronic Commerce Security Technology Laboratory Ltd), and a domestic security evaluation system for hardware such as IC cards was established in September 2012. In September 2012, a domestic security evaluation system for hardware such as IC cards was established."
(Source: Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Industrial Structure Council, Innovation and Environment Subcommittee, R&D and Innovation Subcommittee, Evaluation Working Group, 16 April 2014, 11th Document, ‘Outline of Policy and Project Evaluation on Technologies Related to the Information Security Field’ (Information Security Policy Office, Commerce and Information Policy Bureau))https://www.meti.go.jp/shingikai/sankoshin/sangyo_gijutsu/kenkyu_innovation/hyoka_wg/pdf/011_s02_00.pdf
December 2012ICSS-JC SWG7 (Payment Terminal Security Consortium) is established.
March 2013ICSS-JC SWG8 (M2M Study Group, later renamed Embedded Product Security) established.
March 2014“Secure IC Chip Protection Profile for Embedded Devices” created in cooperation with ICSS-JC SWG8 (M2M Study Group) receives CC evaluation and certification.
October 2014ICSS-JC SWG 9 (Integrated SWG) was established by integrating the activities of former ICSS-JC SWG 3, 5 and 6.
April 2015“Hardware Security DB” is released as a result of the activities of ICSS-JC SWG9 (Integrated SWG) (currently available at CPSEC, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology).
December 2017ICSS-JC SWG10 (PTPP-SWG) is established.
September 2018“Protection Profile for Chips for Public Transportation IC Cards (Public Transportation IC Card Protection Profile)” created under the supervision of ICSS-JC SWG10 (PTPP-SWG) receives CC evaluation and certification.
March 2022Establishment of LRC（Low Resource Chips ） Subcommittee (SWG11) within ICSS-RT.