METHOD FOR HARDWARE INTEGRITY CONTROL OF AN INTEGRATED CIRCUIT CARD

When Integrated Circuit Cards (ICC's) such as chip cards are configured and arranged to initiate electronic transactions, such as financial transactions, lapses in security can have severe consequences. Although global standardization means a high degree of interoperability, it also means that ICC's may be manufactured anywhere in the world. A frequent problem is that ICC's with older generation IC's remain in circulation, and/or some manufacturers of ICC's may use older technologies in new cards. Both of these policies may increase the security risks. In addition, ICC's can be cloned, and may be difficult to distinguish from genuine ICC's.By providing a card reader 200 with a signal generator 400 for providing a circuit test signal 700; and a signal detector 500, for detecting a circuit response signal 750; the response signal 750 may be compared with an expected response signal 850 to determine a degree of electrical correspondence and whether the ICC passes 950 or fails 970 the hardware integrity control.