Advantages of Smart Card Technology

Welcome 2007! Walk in to get your license and what you get is a card that looks like a credit card, with a small microchip installed with all your details, like blood group, address and identification mark. Your vehicle registration card is quite like that too. A plastic card with a chip installed that has all your vehicle details on it…date of purchase, make, model and other important information. Or walk into a train station and groan at the line at the ticket counter, your friend on the other hand has no such reaction. She whips out her trendy looking card, which allows her to purchase a ticket at one of the many kiosks, which serve as ticket vending machines. This card of hers has a small memory chip that deducts the required ticket amount from her account and voila, the ticket is in hand. Such is the twenty first century, the smart card and its technology has evolved the way the world functions.

What is a smart card?

A smart card, also called a chip card or integrated circuit chip (ICC), is defined a small card, ideally pocket sized that is embedded with integrated circuits that are capable of processing information. This means that this card is capable of processing information which is its input by means of the ICC applications and hence delivers an output. There are two basic and broad types or categories of the integrated circuit chip; memory cards and microprocessor cards. The memory cards are the kind that contain only non-volatile memory storage components and may have a pre-programmed or specified security feature. The microprocessor cards on the other hand are more advanced. These microprocessor cards contain volatile memory and microprocessor parks and components. Most smart cards are made of the ever-popular plastic (think credit cards also known as ‘plastic’ money). Though some smart cards are made of PVC, and sometimes ABS. Most smart cards come with an embedding of a hologram so as to avoid any and all chances of counterfeiting.

Smart card security

Smart card technology has a lot of benefits, and one of them is security and security access. By using smart card technology on your network, you can control access on to the network. Gone are the days of usernames and passwords, which could be easily hacked. A more secure method is using smart cards. Here are the benefits of smart card technology in case of access to networks:

• Using smart cards ensures absolute and complete identification. Users are verified by photo identification while issuing them their respective accounts.
• Smart cards use a non-reversible encryption algorithm that transmits user requests and delivers the user with access in the same security ensured manner.
• Smart card technology isn’t prone to bias, and cannot deny access to any person who wants participate in a network transaction.
• Smart cards allow for secure certificate mobility, which means certificated placed on the card they can and will remain active even after logging off by the user.

So whether smart card technology is used for authorized access to a network or for vending machines, identification cards, licenses their uses, benefits and advantages cannot be denied. Smart cards virtually remove the need for unnecessary and slightly old fashioned user names and password logins. I’m sure most of us has forgotten our cleverly thought of complex passwords, and what a nuisance it creates to try and retrieve it. Now you no longer need to use passwords when smart cards can solve the problem. Let technology work with you and for you, so that you can work with technology as well.