A Secure Element (SE) is a tamper-resistant hardware platform, capable of securely hosting applications and storing confidential and cryptographic data.
The highly-secure environment provided by the SE protects the user’s credentials. In the finance industry for example, SEs are used to host personalized smart card applications and the cryptographic keys required to perform financial (EMV) transactions at a point-of-sale (POS) terminal. SEs used in the identity market may hold biometric data or certificates which can be used for signing documents.
