JCOP is an operating system for a security sensitive embedded system environment, smartcard or secure element controllers in particular. The functional architecture can be partitioned into three parts:
- Java Card, for development of applications, i.e. API and structure of card applets similar to class files
- GlobalPlatform, for administration of applications and operating system, i.e. loading and access control
- JCOP proprietary features, mainly Java Card API extensions, i.e. ECC primitive calculation or MIFARE DESFIRE management
NXP offers also MIFARE emulations for Classic and DESFIRE on the same chip as additional (native) operating systems. While JCOP is based on open standards, MIFARE technology is NXP specific. Java Card applets running in JCOP can then be used to manage the MIFARE memory through Java Card API. MIFARE Plus and MIFARE Ultralight are not (yet) supported.
GP is a high-level standard with many options. As of JCOP 3, support for GP 2.2.1 was added, in particular to support mobile use cases JCOP 3 is fully Secure Element configuration compliant.
GP 2.2.1 card specification, core
- issuer centric or simple model
- delegated management
- authorized management
- verification authority (GP 2.1.1 controlling authority)
- Data Authentication Pattern (DAP)
- Secure Channel Protocol 02 (SCP), pseudo random, C-MAC, C-ENC, R-MAC, R-ENC
- all the privileges are supported
Amendment A - Confidential Card Content Management (C3M)
- see implementation details in UICC configuration and Amendment E
Amendment C - Contactless Services
- every protocol but FeliCa is supported
- additionally MIFARE Classic and DESFIRE is supported
- HCI notifications are supported
Amendment D - Secure Channel Protocol 03 (AES)
- only AES-128
- all options are supported (random)
Amendment E - Security Upgrade
- SHA-256 and EC-256
- C3M scenario #3
UICC configuration
- scenarios #1, #2A and #2B
- SCP 80 and 81 is not supported (ETSI)
Secure Element configuration
- JCOP 3 is fully compliant
Java Card
From the optional packages JCOP 3 does not support the javacardx.framework. From the crypto and signature classes, some algorithms are not supported, i.e. MD5 and EC F2M. The key lengths (amongst others) supported are AES-128, DES, 2DES3, 3DES3, EC up to 521 bit, RSA up to 2048 bit.
Communication Protocols
JCOP 3 supports ISO-7816, ISO-14443 type A and B (through SWP - NFC controller) and SWP/HCI. USB low speed was supported only on JCOP v2.3.1.
Extensions
JCOP 3 supports various extensions, i.e. MIFARE DESFIRE management support for MIFARE4Mobile. It is important to know that usage of extensions used in applets (not part of Java Card and GlobalPlatform specifications) makes this applications not portable to other Java Card and GlobalPlatform compliant operating systems.
JCOP Tools were initially developed by IBM. The first module was a command line tool called JCOP Shell or JCShell. The development tools is a plugin to Eclipse IDE. NXP has maintained JCOP Tools and extended it with a CryptoPlugin and new JCOP simulations. The tools are offered for Windows, macOS and Linux platforms.
JCShell
JCShell is a Java program, command line tool which also supports scripting. The JCShell scripting language is sophisticated to create test and verification scripts. JCShell has a plugin structure where existing base plugin (similar to Eclipse plugins) which supports the most basic on-card APDU commands such as raw send is extended with GlobalPlatform and crypto functionality. All the plugins are extendable by own functionality (in Java). There is a standalone JCShell version without the need to install Eclipse and an Eclipse-based version embedded in form of a View in the Debug perspective of JCOP Tools plugin.11