US-12626021-B2 - Secure element with access rule application ARA

US12626021B2US 12626021 B2US12626021 B2US 12626021B2US-12626021-B2

Abstract

A secure element includes an SE application implemented therein or configured to implement an SE application therein. The secure element includes: an SE terminal interface to a terminal, in conjunction with which the secure element is able to be operated; an ARA application (ARA-X) and ARA access rules, by way of which access operations from applications implemented in the terminal to SE applications implemented or able to be implemented in the secure element via the SE terminal interface are controlled. The secure element is: an ARA user interface (ARA-UI), which is configured: to receive user commands that are input by a user on a user interface provided on the terminal or on the secure element; to forward received user commands to the ARA application; and to prompt the ARA application to apply forwarded user commands to the ARA application.

Inventors

Michael Schnellinger

Assignees

GIESECKE+DEVRIENT MOBILE SECURITY GERMANY GMBH

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20221208
Priority Date: 20211209

Claims (15)

1 . A secure element, the secure element being a hardware device, the secure element comprising: a secure-element application implemented in the secure element or a secure-element device configured to implement a secure-element application in the secure element; a secure-element terminal interface to a terminal, in conjunction with which the secure element is configured to operate; an access-rule application and access-rule application rules stored in the secure element, by means of which access operations from applications implemented in the terminal to secure-element applications implemented or able to be implemented in the secure element via the secure-element terminal interface are controlled; and an access-rule application user interface configured to: receive user commands that are entered by a user on a user interface provided on the terminal or on the secure element; forward received user commands to the access-rule application; and prompt the access-rule application to apply forwarded user commands to the access-rule application.
2 . The secure element according to claim 1 , wherein the user commands are designed to manage the access-rule application access rules, and the application of the user command to the access-rule application comprises the management of the access-rule application access rules, wherein one or more of the following management measures is or are provided as the management: generating a new access-rule application access rule; storing a new access-rule application access rule in the secure element; deleting an access-rule application access rule stored in the secure element; changing an access-rule application access rule stored in the secure element.
3 . The secure element according to claim 1 , wherein the secure element is further configured: to receive the user commands from an access-rule application configuration application implemented in the terminal device, which is or is able to be coupled between the user interface and the access-rule application user interface.
4 . The secure element according to claim 1 , further comprising: an access-rule application configuration application which is or is able to be coupled between the user interface and the access-rule application user interface and is configured to direct user commands to the access-rule application.
5 . The secure element according to claim 1 , further comprising a timer, which is configured to cause user commands received at the access-rule application user interface to be applied to the access-rule application only during a limited time interval and no longer to be applied to the access-rule application after the time interval has expired.
6 . The secure element according to claim 5 , wherein the timer is configured to be started by an elementary secure-element command entered in the secure element.
7 . The secure element according to claim 1 , wherein the secure element is configured as a subscriber identity module for operation in conjunction with a mobile terminal as the terminal, wherein one or more of the following is or are provided as the secure-element application: a profile; an application associated with a profile; an application that is or is configured to be implemented in the secure element independently of a profile.
8 . A station comprising the secure element according to claim 1 , and the terminal.
9 . The station according to claim 8 , further comprising an access-rule application configuration application which is or is configured to be coupled between the user interface and the access-rule application user interface and is configured to direct user commands to the access-rule application; wherein the terminal comprises the user interface, on which the user commands are entered, and which comprises the access-rule application configuration application.
10 . A method for managing a secure element, the secure element comprising a secure-element application implemented therein or configured to implement a secure-element application therein, the secure element further comprising: a secure-element terminal interface to a terminal, in conjunction with which the secure element is configured to operate; an access-rule application and access-rule application access rules, by means of which access operations from applications implemented in the terminal to secure-element applications implemented or configured to be implemented in the secure element via the secure-element terminal interface are controlled; and an access-rule application user interface, the method comprising the steps performed on the access-rule application user interface: receiving a user command that is entered by a user on a user interface of the terminal or the secure element; forwarding the received user command to the access-rule application; prompting the access-rule application to apply the forwarded user command to the access-rule application; and applying the user command by means of the application, in response to the prompting.
11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the user command is designed to manage access-rule application access rules, and wherein the application of the user command comprises the management of the access-rule application access rules, wherein one or more of the following management measures is or are provided as the management: generating a new access-rule application access rule; storing a new access-rule application access rule in the secure element; deleting an access-rule application access rule stored in the secure element; changing an access-rule application access rule stored in the secure element.
12 . A method for managing a station including a terminal and a secure element, comprising managing the secure element by means of the method according to claim 10 ; further comprising downloading a target application to the terminal; wherein managing the access-rule application access rules comprises: generating a new access-rule application access rule for the target application, by means of which the target application in particular is allowed access to secure-element applications of the secure element according to the newly generated access-rule application access rule; and storing the newly generated access-rule application access rule in the secure element.
13 . The method according to claim 12 , further comprising registering and/or authenticating the target application with respect to the access-rule application user interface or, if applicable, the access-rule application configuration application, wherein the management comprises: verifying the registration and/or authentication of the target application by means of the access-rule application user interface or, if applicable, the access-rule application configuration application, and generating a new access-rule application access rule for the target application only if the registration and/or authentication is successfully verified.
14 . A hardware storage device having instructions stored therein, which, when executed by one or more processors of a secure element or by one or more processors of a device having a secure element integrated therein, cause the one or more processors of the secure element or the one or more processors of the device to manage the secure element to provide a secure-element application implemented in the secure element, a secure-element terminal interface to a terminal, in conjunction with which the secure element is configured to operate, an access-rule application and access-rule application rules, by means of which access operations from applications implemented in the terminal to secure-element applications implemented or able to be implemented in the secure element via the secure-element terminal interface are controlled, and an access-rule application user interface, wherein the access-rule application user interface is configured to receive user commands that are entered by a user on a user interface provided on the terminal or on the secure element; forward received user commands to the access-rule application; and prompt the access-rule application to apply forwarded user commands to the access-rule application.
15 . The secure element according to claim 1 , wherein the secure element is one of: a plugin universal integrated circuit card, a plugin subscriber identity module, an embedded universal integrated circuit card, a chipset of the terminal comprising an integrated universal integrated circuit card, or a chipset of the terminal comprising a software subscriber identity module.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates to a secure element, in particular a subscriber identity module (SIM) for operation in a mobile terminal, and an access rule application, ARA application, by means of which the access by the mobile terminal to applications in the secure element is controlled. Mobile (mobile radio-enabled) terminals communicate via cellular networks. Classic mobile terminals include smartphones and mobile phones. Mobile terminals also include automotive telematics devices and control devices (control devices or measuring instruments or combined control/measuring devices) for industrial facilities in the commercial or private sectors. Industrial facilities are, for example, production facilities that have one or more control devices (terminals) that can communicate with a background system or/and with one another via a cellular network. Other industrial facilities include smart home equipment such as heating systems or electricity consumers with terminals in the form of control devices. To use a mobile terminal in a cellular network of a network operator, the subscriber identity module operated in the mobile terminal contains one or more subscription profiles, or profiles for short. The profile handles the configuration of the terminal and the connection of the terminal in the cellular network. The profile comprises profile data that enables the establishment, operation and disconnection of the terminal in the cellular network, for example a cryptographic authentication key Ki and an International Mobile Subscriber Identity IMSI. Furthermore, each profile can comprise applications. The terminal itself has one or more terminal chips for operating functions of the terminal. Current smartphones, for example, typically have at least three terminal chips, namely a transceiver IC, which carries out the physical radio communication, at least one baseband processor (or equivalently a modem), which performs functions for data transmission via radio communication at the protocol level, and an application processor, on which the operating system and application software are implemented. As further terminal chips, transceiver ICs may be provided for other radio channels, in particular for short-range radio channels such as NFC (NFC: near field communication) or Bluetooth. The subscriber identity module can be designed in a variety of form factors, including plug-in, embedded, integrated, and software. Plug-in and embedded subscriber identity modules are arranged on a dedicated, separate chip or system-on-chip (SoC). Examples of plug-ins are SIM card (SIM=Subscriber Identity Module) or USIM card (Universal SIM) or UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card), which contact the terminal device via a card reader. Alternatively, the dedicated chip can be integrated into a housing that can be or is soldered into the terminal. A solderable/soldered subscriber identity module is given the prefix “embedded” and referred to as an eUICC, where e stands for embedded, and the rest of the designation is taken from the correspondingly equipped plug-in. Further possible form factors of a subscriber identity module are integrated subscriber identity modules, which are integrated together on a terminal chip or SoC (system-on-chip) of the terminal, and thus do not have their own chip. Integrated subscriber identity modules are provided with the prefix “integrated” and referred to, for example, as integrated UICC, iUICC. Further possible form factors of a subscriber identity module are pure software modules with the functionality of a subscriber identity module, which are integrated into a terminal chip. Current operating systems for mobile devices, such as Android, allow access operations to the subscriber identity module (SIM accesses) at the application level via various APIs (API=Application Programming Interface), for example the OpenMobile API described in [3] [OM API] or the Device API described in [4] [Device API]. Multiple API classes (classes) are defined in [3], including the SE Service API. In addition, there is the Telephony API, which was defined by Google. PRIOR ART Document [1] [SEAC] GlobalPlatform Device Technology, Secure Element Access Control, Version 1.1, Public Release, September 2014, Document Reference GPD_SPE_013, describes access rules that govern the access by a mobile device to applications in a secure element. A secure element in [1] is a tamper-proof component used in a unit (device) to provide security, trust, and a multi-application environment. For example, the secure element form factor can be that of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) or embedded Secure Element (eSE). The access rules from [1] are also applied in connection with subscriber identity modules. Document [1] defines the Access Rule Application ARA implemented in the secure element. FIG. 1 shows FIG. 2-1 taken from [1], which illustrates an elementary secure element with a single Issuer Security Domain (security