A Java Card based approach for smart meter gateway security

Smart Meter Gateway is the central communication component in the Smart Grid Infrastructure. It needs an easy-to-maintain and updatable security provider. The SMGW system secures its operations utilizing the services provided by an embedded secure microcontroller. We propose to implement this on an embedded Java Card OS (Rich in APIs). Java Card API provides secure and efficient OS-defined objects for storage of sensitive data and for cryptographic mechanisms. Services of the Gateway and access to the data stored in the microcontroller can be safeguarded by controlled access policies enforced by an applet. Java Card technology allows creation of a secure environment for independent multiple applications which can be updated over the air. To this end, we have implemented a BSI-Technical Guideline-03109-2v1.0 compliant Java Card applet, using command set based on ISO7816-4 to ensure interoperability and platform independence of the application. Based on our work, we establish the possible use and advantage of using an embedded Java Card OS as the Security Module for the SMGW.