Tamper-proof operating system for biometric ID tokens

Abstract

In many applications there is the need of authenticate the user of a service in an automatic way. If this is done under a distributed architecture, the need of each user to have an ID token arises. Improving security and usage through biometrics, forces some requirements in the token, such as being a tamperproof device and being able to perform some processing task. Previous works by the authors have shown the architecture needed for developing these tokens. In this paper, authors describe the operating system running inside the token, to allow the above mentioned functionalities. Details about the data structures, security architecture and commands used are given, as well as results in implementing this biometric identification token operating system (BTTOS) under a low cost DSP.