SmartCard for Secure Collaborative Engineering

Confidentiality and security in data access and transmission over multiple open networks are of utmost importance for most collaborative engineering environments. In this article, we review smart card based security technologies for their application in computer-based collaborative engineering environments. We focus on most recent microprocessor-based smart cards and on JavaCard as a development infrastructure and operating system. Since JavaCard supports the integration of multiple applications on one card, it enables smart cards to integrate large sets of additional applications. In that context, we identify and discuss three potential key applications: authentication with biometrics, certification, and advanced profile management.