Smartcard Development with Javacard¿ and the Opencard Framework: a Feasibility Study

Today almost all big enterprise applications are based on multi-tier Client-/Server architectures. In such scenarios in particular it is very hard to pinpoint the layer of clients, due to the fact that the advancement in technology produces a lot of different potential clients. A web-based client has been of no importance fifteen years ago, but certainly is one of the most important today. This vagueness in the client tier requires a new approach in concerns of security. The server part of a Client-/Server architecture needs to be extended in order to provide secure remote access of mobile client applications. Password-based systems, as they happen to exist in the past, are considered to be insufficient to meet today¿s security requirements. Smartcards are widely accepted, have proven to be secure and technologically mature regarding the problems mentioned above. JavaCard¿ and the OpenCard Framework enable the developer to program with a high-level language on both the smartcard and the terminal application level.