The SIM advantage

Mideye authentication is based on one­ time passwords delivered in real­time via the mobile network. An end­user must be in possession of the SIM card in order to gain access to the protected service.

The SIM card has several advantages as a security token:

• There are currently (April 2009) more than 3.7 billion GSM / 3GSM subscribers in the world, a number that is increasing at a rate of more than 50 million per month. GSM was the first digital standard to adopt SIM technology for subscriber identification, and other digital standards as well as 3rd generation mobile technologies follow the same path. No other authentication device, neither hardware nor software, comes close to the footprint of SIM cards. For more information about GSM statistics and GSM coverage, see http://www.gsmworld.com


• The SIM card is a reliable and convenient security token. The SIM does not require any extra effort to carry, since it is already included in the mobile phone. The mobile phone is personal, frequently used and perceived as a valuable item by the end­user. If it is lost or stolen, the end­user is likely to notice this quickly. The SIM can be immediately blocked through the operator's 24­-hour service. In case an attacker manages to break the first level of Mideye protection (user name and password), the end­user is notified by being sent non­-requested one-­time passwords to the phone.


• SIM cards are based on smart card techology, and enable further migration paths to SAT (SIM Application Toolkit) and WPKI (Wireless PKI) technologies. Further developments of the Mideye authentication service follow this technology evolution.