Smart Cards in Hostile Environments   [open pdf - 401KB]

"One often hears the claim that smart cards are the solution to a number of security problems, including those arising in point-of-sale systems. This paper argues that many proposed smart card systems still lack effective security for point-of-sale applications. We consider the point-of-sale terminal as a potentially hostile environment to the smart card. Moreover, we discuss several types of modifications that can be made to smart cards to improve their security and address this problem."