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An introduction to the Java Ring

Learn about the inner workings of this secure, durable, wearable Java-powered electronic token

By Stephen M. Curry, JavaWorld.com, 04/01/98

Page 2 of 5

Since their introduction, iButton memory devices have been deployed in vast quantities as rugged portable data carriers, often in harsh environmental conditions. Among the large-scale uses are as transit fare carriers in Istanbul, Turkey; as maintenance record carriers on the sides of Ryder trucks; and as mailbox identifiers inside the mail compartments of the U.S. Postal Service's outdoor mailboxes. They are worn as earrings by cows in Canada to hold vaccination records, and they are used by agricultural workers in many areas as rugged substitutes for timecards.

The iButton product line and its many applications are described at Dallas Semiconductor's iButton Web site, which is listed in the Resources section. Every iButton product is manufactured with a unique 8-byte serial number and carries a guarantee that no two parts will ever have the same number. Among the simplest iButtons are memory devices that can hold files and subdirectories and can be read and written like small floppy disks. In addition to these, there are iButtons with password-protected file areas for security applications, iButtons that count the number of times they have been rewritten for securing financial transactions, iButtons with temperature sensors, iButtons with continuously running date/time clocks, and even iButtons containing powerful microprocessors.

The postal security device

For over 10 years, Dallas Semiconductor also has been designing, making, and selling a line of highly secure microprocessors that are used in satellite TV descramblers, automatic teller machines, point-of-sale terminals, and other similar applications requiring cryptographic security and high resistance to attack by hackers. The U.S. Postal Service's (USPS) Information Based Indicia Program Postal Security Device Specification, intended to permit printing of valid U.S. postage on any PC, provided the first opportunity to combine two areas of expertise when a secure microprocessor was designed into an iButton.

The resulting product, named the Crypto iButton, combines high processor performance, high-speed cryptographic primitives, and exceptional protection against physical and cryptographic attack. For example, the large integer modular exponentiation engine can perform 1024-bit modular exponentiations with a 1024-bit exponent in significantly less than a second. The ability to perform large integer modular exponentiations at high speed is central to RSA encryption, Diffie-Hellman key exchange, Digital Signature Standard (FIPS 186), and many other modern cryptographic operations.

An agreement between Dallas Semiconductor and RSA Data Security Inc. provides a paid-up license for anyone using the Crypto iButton to perform RSA encryption and digital signatures so that no further licensing of the RSA encryption technology is required. High security is afforded by the ability to erase the contents of NVRAM extremely quickly. This feature, rapid zeroization, is a requirement for high security devices that may be subjected to attacks by hackers. As a result of its high security, the Crypto iButton is expected to win the FIPS 140-1 security certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).

 

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