GlobalPlatform and the Global Certification Forum this week signed a liaison agreement that will enable both bodies to collaborate on the optimization of testing and certification procedures that will support and accelerate the deployment of secure near field communication (NFC) services, according to a press release.

GlobalPlatform is an association which standardizes the management of applications on secure chip technology. Global Certification Forum is an independent certification scheme for mobile phones and wireless devices based on 3GPP and 3GPP2 standards.  

The initial focus of the collaboration will be on mobile NFC handset compliance to reflect that GlobalPlatform's Secure Element Access Control (SEAC) test suite has been referenced by GSMA's TS.27 NFC Handset Testbook which, in turn, is used as the basis for GCF certification, according to the announcement.

"The SEAC Specification is important to handset manufacturers as it is designed to prevent unauthorized access from a device application to an application stored in the secure element (SE) – a tamper resistant platform residing in a mobile device, such as a UICC or embedded SE, capable of securely hosting applications and their confidential and cryptographic data," Gil Bernabeu, technical director of GlobalPlatform, said in a statement. "Without restrictions, a fake application could 'pop-up' during an SE-based transaction which sends the wrong, or too many commands to the SE. This would result in 'denial of service' attacks or PIN blocking, and ultimately render the secure application unable to operate. The SEAC Specification addresses this issue."

Lars Nielsen, general manager of GCF, adds: "Occupying such central roles in the NFC ecosystem, GCF's Operator and Manufacturer members have a shared interest in enabling contactless transactions. Through the alignment of testing processes, collaboration between GlobalPlatform and GCF can accelerate the deployment of secure NFC solutions."