27-05-2013, 01:07 PM
SMART CARD FOR NETWORK SECURITY
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ABSTRACT
Network security is a technology used to make its resources available to only authenticated people. There are varieties of techniques available on in this paper. We use Smart Card as an authentication device to have access to the resources.
Smart card is a credit card sized device having some IC’s (integrated circuits) within it. We have a crypto controller within it which is used to encrypt the users data namely: password, identity details etc. By this smart card the user will be able to access the computer resources by inserting the card in the smart card reader which is attached to the computer network. Once the card is inserted there is a query by the system which is answered by the user. If this tallies with that which had been registered and have been stored in the memory of smart card, then access is given to the user.
Smart card has variety of applications. The banks are planning in India to make use of smart cards in the place of magnetic strip cards used for credit and debit cards. These have an edge over the former in its inability to clone as the data is in the encoded form and the bus that is inside the smart card is not available for hacker to hack it. Moreover, smart cards are cheaper when are mass produced. There is a rough estimate of this cost, presently to be about $1 which may be much lower than the magnetic strip cards used. The government is also interested in making use of the same smart card for variety of other authentications like ID, bank transactions, income tax etc. Thus many applications can be built within a same smart card with no extra cost. Thus today it is the best authentication tool for network security.
Introduction
Cryptography is one of the techniques of network security. Smart card is one of the methods using cryptography.
Basics of Network Security
Network security is a technology for ensuring secure usage of computer resources. Network security can be as simple as sticking to a set of rules; technology alone can't prevent hack attacks and other security breaches. The following helps in implementing simple security systems.
Basic Terminology of Cryptography
Cryptography is a technology of encrypting the data of computer network. In cryptographic terminology, the message is called plaintext or clear text. Encoding the contents of the message in such a way that hides its contents from outsiders is called encryption. The encrypted message is called Cipher text. The process of retrieving the plain text from cipher text is called decryption. Encryption and decryption usually makes use of a key, and the coding method is such that decryption can be performed only by knowing the proper key.
Smart Card
The smart card, an intelligent token, is a credit card sized plastic card embedded with an integrated circuit chip. First of all, it has an inside - a normal credit card is a simple piece of plastic. The inside of a smart card usually contains an embedded 8-bit microprocessor. The microprocessor is under a gold contact pad on one side of the card. It provides not only memory capacity, but computational capability as well. The self-containment of smart card makes it resistant to attack as it does not need to depend upon potentially vulnerable external resources. Because of this characteristic, smart cards are often used in different applications which require strong security protection and authentication.
For examples, smart card can act as an identification card which is used to prove the identity of the card holder. It also can be a medical card which stores the medical history of a person. Furthermore, the smart card can be used as a credit/debit bank card which allows off-line transactions. All of these applications require sensitive data to be stored in the card, such as biometrics information of the card owner, personal medical history, and cryptographic keys for authentication, etc.
Attacks on Smart Card
The smart card seems to be a superior tool for enhancing system security and provides a place for secure storage. One of the security features provided by most of the smart card operating systems is the cryptographic facilities. They provide encryption and decryption of data for the card; some of them can even be used to generate cryptographic keys.
The secret of the cryptographic algorithm, the keys stored, and the access control inside the smart card become the targets of attackers.
Conclusion
It is believed that smart cards offer more security and confidentiality than the other kinds of information or transaction storage. Moreover, applications applied with smart card technologies are illustrated which demonstrate smart card is one of the best solutions to provide and enhance the system with security and integrity.
it is important to realize that attacks against any secure systems are nothing new or unique. As the technology advances quickly, manufacturers update and enhance their products constantly. Therefore, as soon as the hackers find ways of hacking the system, the problems could be solved by the new generation of technology.
Finally, it can be concluded that the smart card is an intrinsically secure device. It is a safe place to store valuable information such as private keys, account numbers, and valuable personal data such as biometrics information. The smart card is also a secure place to perform off-line processes such as public or private key encryption and decryption. The smart card can be an element of solution to a security problem in the modern world.