The biggest advantage in
Smart Cards IS their security capabilities! Smart Cards can make
use of numerous security technologies such as Private Key Infrastructure
(PKI), Certificates (Such as VeriSign type encrypted
certificates), electronic signatures, fingerprint recognition
and retina print recognition applications. Obviously the most
common security features in use today are PKI and certificates
but there are many biometric type (finger print recognition)
software products currently on the market for Smart Card
applications.
Another advantage of
Smart Card security is fraud prevention. In addition to using a
Personal Identification Number (PIN), Smart Cards which use an
encrypted key pair such as 3-DES encryption are virtually impossible to crack. In PKI
key-pair technology, a master (private) key is held securely
by the card issuer at their discretion and a slave (Public)
key is stored in a file on the Smart Card itself. To access
such a card, a secure communication channel must be created
using a secured messaging service which passes an encrypted
message to the card. The processor on the card re-encrypts
the message using it's onboard key and returns the message
to the requester. The requesting component must be able to
decrypt and answer the card in order to get permission to
access the card's files. This makes for the most complex and
impenetrable security possible! The keys themselves can be
up to or greater than 1020 characters in size. This is the a
higher strength than secured websites and online banking
electronic transactions.
