Design of a secure key management system for SIM cards: SIM-GAYS

Today, the increasing security needs of mobile applications and service providers make SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) cards an important candidate for providing desired secure operating infrastructure. Mobile services require a secure communication design for data storage and transmission to minimize the security risks between the smartphone user and service provider. The aim of this study is to present the design of the centralized SIM based key management framework, called SIM-GAYS. The proposed SIM-GAYS framework aims to centralize and facilitate cryptographic operations of diverse applications provided by various service providers and also maintain a centralized OTP generation and validation services on SIM cards. With the help of GSM capabilities of MNOs, the proposed SIM-GAYS framework fulfills the need for a centralized secure key management on SIM card that can be used by all security-sensitive service applications installed on the SIM card as well as on the Smartphone. This comprehensive key management system on SIM cards will allow embedding new value added services and support for the development of mobile ecosystem.