This application claims the benefit of French application no. 00/10088 filed Jul. 31, 2000.
The present invention relates to a method of securing access to at least one application supported by a user card having a microprocessor. The user card co-operates with one of the communications terminals in a communications system. The invention also relates to a communications terminal implementing the method.
A non-exclusive field of application of the invention is that of mobile terminals for radio communication operating in a cellular radio communication system. The invention applies particularly but not exclusively to a system implementing the global system for mobile communication (GSM).
The terminals of a radio communication system can co-operate with at least one smart card. Each smart card contains at least one internal application. Each internal application is suitable for co-operating with an application external to the smart card. For example, the external application can be a bank application co-operating with a user card of the payment card type supporting the corresponding bank application.
In addition, when an external application seeks to access the corresponding internal application supported by the smart card, said external application starts the connection protocol. It exchanges so-called applicative protocol data unit (APDU) data via the application programming interface (API) of the terminal. In the APDU, the external application specifies its class or type (bank, etc.). This class is given in one of the bytes of the APDU which is referred to as the xe2x80x9cCLAxe2x80x9d byte.
The concept of having a plurality of applications united on a common card is highly advantageous for the subscriber. This enables the subscriber to use the terminal to perform numerous operations such as paying for an order likewise made from the terminal, and to do so simply and solely by means of the terminal.
Thus, various different external applications can have access simultaneously to corresponding internal applications on a single smart card. However, two identical external applications must not have access simultaneously to the corresponding internal application on the smart card.
It must be possible to restrict access in this way in order to mitigate the risks of fraudulent use of smart card applications. During a transaction between an external bank application and the bank application on a subscriber""s smart card, it is necessary to avoid any transaction with a pirate application of the bank type requesting access to the subscriber""s smart card.
Furthermore, within a smart card containing a plurality of different internal applications, it is difficult to guarantee that there will be no leakage between the various internal applications. Thus, consider the case of a first external application X already in communication with the corresponding internal application X situated on the smart card. If a pirate external application Xxe2x80x2 seeks to communicate with the internal application X, then the application Xxe2x80x2 might be able to connect with an internal application Y situated in the smart card close to the internal application X. Thereafter, the application Xxe2x80x2 might be able to take advantage of any possible leakage between the internal applications in order to reach the internal application X.
In the state of the art, there exists an on/off model. That model operates, for example, on pieces of equipment such as Internet communication terminals that give access to the Internet. With this type of terminal, applications can be downloaded from the outside.
If the connection protocol used by the external application is known by the terminal, then the external application is said to be an xe2x80x9cauthorizedxe2x80x9d application and it can access the corresponding internal application of the smart card. However, if another authorized external application of the same class as the first requests access to the same internal application of the smart card, the second application can also gain access to the same internal application of the smart card, thereby establishing an interface between the two external applications.
The prior solution is therefore not sufficient for mitigating the above-mentioned risk.
The invention solves this problem by enabling an external application to reserve access to the corresponding internal application of the user card to itself alone.
More precisely, the invention provides a method of securing access of an external application to at least one user card having a microprocessor.
Said user card is capable of containing a plurality of internal applications, with said external application corresponding to one of the internal applications.
Said user card co-operates with a terminal.
Said external application uses a protocol for connection to said user card in which each type of external application is associated with a predetermined identify parameter. The method comprises the following steps:
when a first external application is connected with the corresponding internal application on the user card, the identity parameter of the application is determined;
if a second external application requests connection to said user card, the identity parameter of said second application is analyzed; and
if said identity parameter is identical to that of the first-connected application, then access to said corresponding internal application on the user card is denied to said second external application.
In particular, the method comprises a connection protocol between the external application and the corresponding internal application on the user card. This protocol results in an APDU exchange, containing a plurality of bytes, between the external application and the internal application situated on the user card via the software interface of the terminal, said identity parameter being represented by at least one of the bytes of the APDU.
The method comprises a connection protocol during which an APDU exchange takes place such that at least one of the bytes of the APDU is the CLA byte defining the class of the external application, each identical external application type that might be capable of exchanging APDUs having an identical CLA byte, said identity parameter being the CLA byte.
The method is such that once the external application of a defined class has fully reserved access to at least one user card, said identity parameter is analyzed by the software interface for all possible classes which define an external application.
Other characteristics and advantages of the invention appear on reading the following description relating to an embodiment given by way of non-limiting example. The description refers to the accompanying drawings.