Tag: Smart Cards

Storing Cryptographic Keys in Persistent Browser Storage

This blog post is a companion to a presentation made at the 2017 International Cryptographic Module Conference and refers to the presentation slides, revised after the conference. Karen Lewison is a co-author of the presentation and of this blog post.

Slide 2: Key storage in web clients

Most Web applications today use TLS, thus relying on cryptography to provide a secure channel between client and server, and to authenticate the server to the client by means of a cryptographic credential, consisting of a TLS server certificate and its associated private key. But other uses of cryptography by Web applications are still rare. Client authentication still relies primarily on traditional username-and-password, one-time passwords, proof of possession of a mobile phone, biometrics, or combinations of two or more of such authentication factors. Web payments still rely on a credit card number being considered a secret. Encrypted messaging is on the rise, but is not Web-based.

A major obstacle to broader use of cryptography by Web applications is the problem of where to store cryptographic keys on the client side. Continue reading “Storing Cryptographic Keys in Persistent Browser Storage”

Highlights of the NIST Worshop on PIV-Related Special Publications

This is Part 5 of a series discussing the public comments on Draft NIST SP 800-157, Guidelines for Derived Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Credentials and the final version of the publication. Links to all the posts in the series can be found here.

On March 3-4, NIST held a Workshop on Upcoming Special Publications Supporting FIPS 201-2. The FIPS 201 standard, Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors, leaves out many details to be specified in a large number of Special Publications (SPs). The purpose of the workshop was to discuss SPs being added or revised to achieve alignment with version 2 of the standard, FIPS 201-2, which was issued in September 2013. An agenda with links to the presentations and an archived webcast of the workshop are now available.

I attended the workshop, via webcast, mostly because some of the topics to be discussed were related to derived credentials. In this post I report on some of those topics, plus on three other topics that were quite interesting even though not directly related to derived credentials: (i) the resolution of a controversy on whether to use a pairing code to authenticate a computer or physical access terminal to the PIV card; (ii) the security of methods for physical access control, including new methods to be introduced in the next version of SP 800-116; and (iii) the difficulties caused by having to certify cryptographic modules to FIPS 140. Continue reading “Highlights of the NIST Worshop on PIV-Related Special Publications”

Biometrics in PIV Cards

This is Part 3 of a series discussing the public comments on Draft NIST SP 800-157, Guidelines for Derived Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Credentials and the final version of the publication. Links to all the posts in the series can be found here.

After Part 1 and Part 2, in this Part 3 I intended to discuss comments received by NIST regarding possible uses of biometrics in connection with derived credentials. But that requires explaining the use of biometrics in PIV cards, and as I delved into the details, I realized that this deserves a blog post of its own, which may be of interest in its own right. So in this post I will begin by reviewing the security and privacy issues raised by the use of biometrics, then I will recap the biometrics carried in a PIV card and how they are used.

Biometric security

When used for user authentication, biometrics are sometimes characterized as “something you are“, while a password or PIN is “something you know” and a private key stored in a smart card or computing device is “something you have“, “you” being the cardholder. However this is only an accurate characterization when a biometric sample is known to come from the cardholder or device user, which in practice requires the sample to be taken by, or at least in the presence of, a human attendant. How easy it was to dupe the fingerprint sensors in Apple’s iPhone (as demonstrated in this video) and Samsung’s Galaxy S5 (as demonstrated in this video) with a spoofed fingerprint shows how difficult it is to verify that a biometric sample is live, Continue reading “Biometrics in PIV Cards”

Smart Cards, TEEs and Derived Credentials

This post has also been published on the blog of the GlobalPlatform TEE Conference.

Smart cards and mobile devices can both be used to carry cryptographic credentials. Smart cards are time-tested vehicles, which provide the benefits of low cost and widely deployed infrastructures. Mobile devices, on the other hand, are emerging vehicles that promise new benefits such as built-in network connections, a built-in user interface, and the rich functionality provided by mobile apps.

Derived Credentials

It is tempting to predict that mobile devices will replace smart cards, but this will not happen in the foreseeable future. Mobile devices are best used to carry credentials that are derived from primary credentials stored in a smart card. Each user may choose to carry derived credentials on zero, one or multiple devices in addition to the primary credentials in a smart card, and may obtain derived credentials for new devices as needed. The derived credentials in each mobile device are functionally equivalent to the primary credentials, and are installed into the device by a device registration process that does not need to duplicate the user proofing performed for the issuance of the primary credentials.

The term derived credentials was coined by NIST in connection with credentials carried by US federal employees in Personal Identity Verification (PIV) cards and US military personnel in Common Access Cards (CAC); but the concept is broadly applicable. Derived credentials can be used for a variety of purposes, Continue reading “Smart Cards, TEEs and Derived Credentials”