Smart Cards

Revinfotech is now also a Smart Card and security company who provide in-depth consultancy, tailored Smart Card solutions and up-to-the minute industry analysis on a global scale.

Smart Cards - Smart cards in the wireless marketplace provide:-

• Improved network security through user identification.
• A facility for storing user data.
• A mechanism for recording various service data events.

These capabilities enable improved service customization and portability in a secure environment, especially suited for various transaction based services.

Smart cards are tamper resistant and utilize ISO-standardized Application Protocol Data Units (APDU) to communicate with host devices via PIN codes and cryptographic keys.

How Smart Cards work : -

A smart card resembles a credit card in size and shape, but inside it is completely different. First of all, it has an inside -- a normal credit card is a simple piece of plastic. The inside of a smart card usually contains an embedded microprocessor. The microprocessor is under a gold contact pad on one side of the card.

Magnetic stripe technology remains in wide use in the United States. However, the data on the stripe can easily be read, written, deleted or changed with off-the-shelf equipment. Therefore, the stripe is really not the best place to store sensitive information. To protect the consumer, businesses in the U.S. have invested in extensive online mainframe-based computer networks for verification and processing. The microprocessor on the smart card is there for security. The host computer and card reader actually "talk" to the microprocessor. The microprocessor enforces access to the data on the card. If the host computer read and wrote the smart card's random access memory (RAM), it would be no different than a diskette.

Smarts cards may have up to 8 kilobytes of RAM, 346 kilobytes of ROM, 256 kilobytes of programmable ROM, and a 16-bit microprocessor. The smart card uses a serial interface and receives its power from external sources like a card reader. The processor uses a limited instruction set for applications such as cryptography.

The most common smart card applications are:

• Credit cards
• Electronic cash
• Computer security systems
• Wireless communication
• Loyalty systems (like frequent flyer points)
• Banking
• Satellite TV
• Government identification

Smart cards can be used with a smart-card reader attachment to a personal computer to authenticate a user. Web browsers also can use smart card technology to supplement Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) for improved security of Internet transactions