IoT SIM Applet For secure End-to-end communication (IoT SAFE) has been developed by the GSM Association to allow for the use of the SIM card as a standardised hardware ‘Root of Trust’. In this report we examine how IoT SAFE works, the benefits that arise from using it, and its limitations. In so doing, we explore what the likely prognosis is for adoption and success of this emerging new technology.
IoT SIM Applet For secure End-to-end communication (IoT SAFE) has been developed by the GSM Association to allow for the use of the SIM card as a standardised hardware ‘Root of Trust’ for managing authentication between IoT devices and, typically, cloud servers. It provides mutual authentication between the end points and applies Transport Layer Security (TLS) to the end-to-end communications. A few CSPs, include KORE, Orange, Telstra and Telus, have announced support in collaboration with their SIM providers, most notably Kigen and Thales.
In this report we examine how IoT SAFE works, the benefits that arise from using it, and its limitations. In so doing, we explore what the likely prognosis is for adoption and success of this emerging new technology.
