What are Smart Cards

Smart card is a pocket-sized card with integrated circuits in it which can process information. It is also called as chip card or integrated circuit card(ICC).This card is made of plastic generally PVC,but some times ABS(Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene which is a common thermoplastic).Smart cards typically hold 2,000 to 8,000 electronic bytes of data—roughly several pages of information.

Benefits of Smart Cards :
Smart cards are used for single sign-on to computers ,laptops, data with encryption etc.It provides with a means of effective business transactions in a flexible, secure and standard way. Smart cards are widely used to protect digital television streams. The Malaysian government uses smart card technology in identity cards carried by all Malaysian citizens and resident non-citizens.

Smard Card Technology :
Smart cards are secure, compact and intelligent data carriers. Though they lack screens and keyboards, smart cards should be regarded as specialized computers capable of processing, storing and safeguarding thousands of bytes of data.Smart cards operate with special read/write devices, some of which may be attached to computers and point-of-sale (POS) terminals using standard cables and interfaces.

Why use Smart Cards :
Migrating to smart cards will impact toll agency operations in at least four ways:
1. It will separate payment from management functions.
2. Toll agencies will benefit from technological innovations and cost savings arising from marketplace competition among smart card and POS terminal vendors.
3. It will push the vendor community toward standardized ETC based on smart cards.
4. It will reduce or eliminate theft and fraud.

The most common smart card applications are:

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.

Problems with Smart Cards :
The plastic card in which the chip is fixed is fairly flexible and the larger chip has higher probability of breaking.Smart cards are often carried in wallets or pockets which is a fairly harsh environment for a chip. In addition to technical hurdles is the lack of standards for smart card functionality and security. To address this problem, the ERIDANE Project was launched by The Berlin Group to develop a proposal for “a new functional and security framework for smart-card based Point of Interaction (POI) equipment”, equipment that would be used, for instance, in retail environments.