PDF of this tutorialOther Industries and Institutions
Certain industries, in particular information technology (IT), government, and financial services, will lead the way to mass-market acceptance of smart cards.
Large IT players are deploying public key infrastructure (PKI) to provide secure logical access to information. PKI is becoming the way to secure messaging and browsing of private information, leading the way to secure electronic commerce. Smart cards are the ideal vehicle to transport the digital certificate associated with the trusted third parties of PKI infrastructures. They provide secure certificate portability and can combine other security applications such as disk file encryption and secure computer log-on. The inclusion of smart-card readers in the equipment listed in the PC99 recommendation has already driven large computer manufacturers to integrate smart-card readers into their product offer (for example, Hewlett Packard and Compaq).
Government agencies around the world are relying on smart-card technology to secure off-line portable information, including identification documents and electronic benefit transfer systems. A Brazilian province has issued its drivers licenses on smart cards to allow the police to view securely stored ticket information immediately. The U.S. government is a major early adopter of smart cards. It has instituted numerous smart card identification programs for its defense department and recently announced that it will further explore the nationwide use of smart cards for electronic benefit transfers as a fraud reduction tool.
In the financial industry, large players such as Barclays and Citibank currently use SIM cards to provide banking information to mobile users via their GSM phones. Electronic purse systems based on VisaCash, Mondex, Proton, and other schemes are deployed around the world and account for tens of millions of cards in Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Major U.S. banks are considering or conducting trials of smart card-based systems. The push by these major financial services firms will serve to accelerate consumer acceptance.
Consumers Primed to Use Smart Cards
Research conducted by the Smart Card Forum, an interindustry association dedicated to advancing multiapplication smart cards, has generated the following statistics:
- 45 percent of consumers are favorably disposed to using smart cards
- 25 percent of households would actually obtain these smart cards
- 44 percent of consumers are likely to use identification-type smart cards (telephone cards, gas cards, automated teller machine [ATM] cards, etc.)
