News > Smart & Connected Life Samsung’s Got a New All-in-One Security Chip It could make credit cards faster to use and much harder to steal By Rob Rich Rob Rich Twitter News Reporter College for Creative Studies Rob is a freelance tech reporter with experience writing for a variety of outlets, including IGN, Unwinnable, 148Apps, Gamezebo, Pocket Gamer, Fanbolt, Zam, and more. lifewire's editorial guidelines Published on January 25, 2022 11:39AM EST Fact checked by Jerri Ledford Fact checked by Jerri Ledford Western Kentucky University Gulf Coast Community College Jerri L. Ledford has been writing, editing, and fact-checking tech stories since 1994. Her work has appeared in Computerworld, PC Magazine, Information Today, and many others. lifewire's fact checking process Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Smart & Connected Life Mobile Phones Internet & Security Computers & Tablets Smart Life Home Theater & Entertainment Software & Apps Social Media Streaming Gaming Samsung has revealed its latest in fingerprint security integrated circuits (ICs), which combines fingerprint reading, encryption, and secure information storage all by itself. The new fingerprint IC, dubbed S3B512C, is intended to act as an all-in-one option for biometric card security. Current biometric cards use separate chips for fingerprint scanning, information storage and protection, and encryption. By having a single IC handle all those functions, Samsung hopes to optimize biometric card design and streamline how we use them. alexialex / Getty Images A card with the S3B512C chip would be able to read your fingerprint, authenticate and store that information for future use, and securely encrypt the information against tampering. It's the kind of security likely to be used in credit cards, but it would also be useful for student, employee, or membership identification. You know, for stuff like secure building access or situations that could benefit from more secure identity verification. According to Samsung, the S3B512C chip would lead to faster credit card transactions, too (no need to enter a PIN), and also prevent fraudulent use due to the layers of security it provides. Since the user's fingerprint is stored on the card and required for use, if the card were ever lost or stolen, it would be functionally useless to anyone else. Samsung Samsung also alleges the chip's "anti-spoofing technology" could prevent security circumvention techniques such as using artificial (i.e., copied) fingerprints. As for when we might see the S3B512C chip in action, well, that's up to the various card manufacturers and whether or not they want to use it. Simply manufacturing a card can take a week or two, but designing one around new technology will most likely take a bit longer than that. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up! Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit