Elliptic curve cryptosystems on smart cards

Abstract

Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) offers small key size and high security. Secure applications in smart cards present implementation challenges particular to the platform's memory, bandwidth, and computation constraints. ECC's unique properties make it especially well suited to smart card applications. ECC systems provide the highest strength per bit of any cryptosystem known today. This paper presents a new protocol for smart card implementation of elliptic curves explaining how ECC can not only significantly reduce the cost, but also accelerate the deployment of smart cards in new applications.