Modelling Smart Card Security Protocols in SystemC TLM

Smart cards are an example of advanced chip technology. They allow information transfer between the card holder and the system over secure networks, but they contain sensitive data related to both the card holder and the system, that has to be kept private and confidential. The objective of this work is to create an executable model of a smart card system, including the security protocols and transactions, and to examine the strengths and determine the weaknesses by running tests on the model. The security objectives have to be considered during the early stages of systems development and design, an executable model will give the designer the advantage of exploring the vulnerabilities early, and therefore enhancing the system security. The Unified Modeling Language (UML) 2.0 is used to model the smart card security protocol. The executable model is programmed in SystemC with the Transaction Level Modeling (TLM) extensions. The final model was used to examine the effectiveness of a number of authentication mechanisms with different probabilities of failure. In addition, a number of probable attacks on the current security protocol were modeled to examine the vulnerabilities. The executable model shows that the smart card system security protocols and transactions need further improvement to withstand different types of security attacks

MOC via TOC using a Mobile Agent framework

A novel protocol is proposed to address the problem of user authentication to smartcards using biometric authentication instead of the usual PIN. The protocol emulates expensive Match On Card (MOC) smartcards, which can compute a biometric match onboard, by using cheap Template on Card (TOC) smartcards, which only store a biometric template. The biometric match is performed by a module running on the user\u27s workstation, authenticated by a mobile agent coming from a reliable server. The protocol uses today\u27s cryptographic tokens without requiring any HW/SW modi?cation

Assessment of Professionals’ Outlook on the Application of Electronic Security Systems in Select University Libraries of Northern India

In a digital era, library professionals are not only responsible for efficient transaction services but also act as custodian of material in all forms. With the constraints of funding, more and more librarians are relying on different technological advances such as Electronic Security Systems (ESSs) to bring security to library material, building, and premises. The present paper uses survey methodology to assess their perception of library professionals of select libraries of Northern India on different ESSs such as Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Closed-circuit television (CCTV), Biometric and Burglar system and its applications, benefits, and problems. The work highlighted that most of the libraries are using technology such as RFID, or Electro-Magnetic (EM) Tags and surveillance system than Biometric and Burglar for the security of library materials. The study raises awareness of the importance of ESSs for the betterment of the libraries and emphasizes the need to implement such security systems

Revocable, Interoperable and User-Centric (Active) Authentication Across Cyberspace

This work addresses fundamental and challenging user authentication and universal identity issues and solves the problems of system usability, authentication data security, user privacy, irrevocability, interoperability, cross-matching attacks, and post-login authentication breaches associated with existing authentication systems. It developed a solid user-centric biometrics based authentication model, called Bio-Capsule (BC), and implemented an (active) authentication system. BC is the template derived from the (secure) fusion of a user’s biometrics and that of a Reference Subject (RS). RS is simply a physical object such as a doll or an artificial one, such as an image. It is users’ BCs, rather than original biometric templates, that are utilized for user authentication and identification. The implemented (active) authentication system will facilitate and safely protect individuals’ diffused cyber activities, which is particularly important nowadays, when people are immersed in cyberspace. User authentication is the first guard of any trustworthy computing system. Along with people’s immersion in the penetrated cyber space integrated with information, networked systems, applications and mobility, universal identity security& management and active authentication become of paramount importance for cyber security and user privacy. Each of three typical existing authentication methods, what you KNOW (Password/PIN), HAVE (SmartCard), and ARE (Fingerprint/Face/Iris) and their combinations, suffer from their own inherent problems. For example, biometrics is becoming a promising authentication/identification method because it binds an individual with his identity, is resistant to losses, and does not need to memorize/carry. However, biometrics introduces its own challenges. One serious problem with biometrics is that biometric templates are hard to be replaced once compromised. In addition, biometrics may disclose user’s sensitive information (such as race, gender, even health condition), thus creating user privacy concerns. In the recent years, there has been intensive research addressing biometric template security and replaceability, such as cancelable biometrics and Biometric Cryptosystems. Unfortunately, these approaches do not fully exploit biometric advantages (e.g., requiring a PIN), reduce authentication accuracy, and/or suffer from possible attacks. The proposed approach is the first elegant solution to effectively address irreplaceability, privacy-preserving, and interoperability of both login and after-login authentication. Our methodology preserves biometrics’ robustness and accuracy, without sacrificing system acceptability for the same user, and distinguishability between different users. Biometric features cannot be recovered from the user’s Biometric Capsule or Reference Subject, even when both are stolen. The proposed model can be applied at the signal, feature, or template levels, and facilitates integration with new biometric identification methods to further enhance authentication performance. Moreover, the proposed active, non-intrusive authentication is not only scalable, but also particularly suitable to emerging portable, mobile computing devices. In summary, the proposed approach is (i) usercentric, i.e., highly user friendly without additional burden on users, (ii) provably secure and resistant to attacks including cross-matching attacks, (iii) identity-bearing and privacy-preserving, (iv) replaceable, once Biometric Capsule is compromised, (v) scalable and highly adaptable, (vi) interoperable and single signing on across systems, and (vii) cost-effective and easy to use