Federal directives on electronic credentials could be the springboard to boost widespread use of smart cards governmentwide as agency officials issue them for access to buildings and networked resources.
Proponents of smart cards in the federal government got a boost from Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, issued in August. It requires agency officials to provide all employees and contractors with a tamperresistant credential that can be electronically authenticated in the coming months. Although smart cards are not explicitly named in the directive, many industry observers believe smart cards will be the most secure, cost-efficient way to meet the directive's requirements.
"The homeland security presidential directive is a validation of the work that we've been doing for the last year or so," said Judith Spencer, chairwoman of the General Services Administration's Federal Identity Credentialing Committee. "It does give some legs to the work we have been doing. For those agencies that have been hanging back a little bit, it is a new incentive to start participating."
Smart card vendors, meanwhile, are adding scalability and management features and functionality to their wares in anticipation of more governmentwide smart card deployments.
Federal officials initially used smart cards, which are credit card-size plastic cards containing an embedded computer chip, as electronic badges for employees to gain access to buildings. The face of the card can have photos and identifying data that an electronic reader can verify. For access to computers and networks, smart cards can replace or augment personal identification numbers and passwords, which can be lost or otherwise compromised. The cards also can house a digital certificate or a biometric identifier such as a fingerprint.
A smart card system is made up of the cards and a reader. A connection is made when the reader contacts a small area on the front of the card. Readers serve as a path for applications to send and receive commands from the cards.
Digg
De.licio.us
Slashdot
Technorati
