SICRYPT

SICRYPT is an acronym derived from the words Si emens and Crypt ography. It is an operating system for smart cards that is now owned by Infineon Technologies (formally Siemens).

SICRYPT was originally designed by Siemens Nixdorf Informationssysteme (SNI) for Telekom-specific SAM applications (for telephone cards based on Eurochip); later it was expanded into a PC-focused multifunctional platform and also marketed through Fujitsu Siemens. The operating system has been and is continuously developed and ported to the current Infineon hardware platforms.

SICRYPT is best known for the preinstallation of the chip card under Windows XP (version SICRYPT CSP) and under Windows Vista (version SICRYPT ICM). This means that the Cryptographic Service Provider (CSP) is preinstalled under Windows XP and the Answer to Reset (ATR) of the card is registered in the Windows Calais database (a sub-branch of the registry ).

Microsoft introduced the “Card Module” concept under Windows Vista ; this means that there is a general “Microsoft Base Smart Card Crypto Provider” under which several card modules of different cards can be located in parallel. The card-specific commands are implemented in these libraries, which are also sometimes referred to as “card mini driver”. For the Infineon SICRYPT CardModule Card , this card module is pre-installed under Vista and the ATR is also pre-registered. This means that software installation is no longer necessary to use a PKI (Public-Key Infrastructure) on the Windows client.

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