What is a smart card?
A smart card is a small, tamperproof computer. The smart card itself contains a CPU and some non-volatile storage. In most cards, some of the storage is tamperproof while the rest is accessible to any application that can talk to the card. This capability makes it possible for the card to keep some secrets, such as the private keys associated with any certificates it holds. The card itself actually performs its own cryptographic operations. Although smart cards are often compared to hard drives, they’re “secured drives with a brain”—they store and process information. Smart cards are storage devices with the core mechanics to facilitate communication with a reader or coupler. They have file-system configurations and the ability to be partitioned into public and private spaces that can be made available or locked. They also have segregated areas for protected information, such as certificates, e-purses, and entire operating systems. In addition to traditional data storage states, such a
A smart card is a plastic card about the size of a credit card that is embedded with either a microprocessor and a memory chip or only a memory chip with non-programmable logic. The microprocessor card can add, delete, and otherwise manipulate information on the card, while a memory-chip card (for example, pre-paid phone cards) can only undertake a pre-defined operation. The host computer and card reader communicate with the microprocessor. Some cards can contain programming and data to support multiple applications and some can be updated to add new applications after they are issued. Types of smart cards include: memory cards, processor cards, electronic purse cards, security cards, and JavaCards. One of the common uses for smart cards readers on notebooks is to authenticate a user for security applications. For example; secure logon and authentication of users to PC and networks, storage of digital certificates, passwords and credentials, encryption of sensitive data, and wireless c
A smart card is any card that has an integrated circuit on it. A smart card lacks batteries, as the size of a card is too small to mount all but the smallest of special-purpose batteries, which are currently too expensive. Because it has no power on its own, a smart card must be introduced to a smart card reader to temporarily give it power for the purpose of reading the data contained therein. The smart card has a variety of applications, including payment cards, identification cards, access-control cards, cards for public transit, insurance cards, and the SIM cards found in cell phones. SIM cards are found in practically every cellular telephone on the market. When a smart card contains only memory elements, it is called a memory card. Memory cards, usually a bit thicker and smaller than the type of card that fits in your wallet, is often used to store game saves for video game systems like the Sony Playstation. The chip in a smart card will usually hold several processing elements,
