This is essential for improved security, particularly for organisations with a mobile or changing workforce. In all cases, you are now authenticating the person as well as the device. Two factor authentication solutions can be implemented in several ways, involving either a smartcard or another kind of secure device such as a plug-in USB token or a stand-alone key-ring or ‘calculator-style’ passcode generator. This is called two-factor authentication, and is the same principle used to secure chip-and-PIN transactions.
#INSTALL SMART CARD READER IF NOT ABLE TO LOG INTO COMPUTER PASSWORD#
It’s common knowledge that the best option for improving security over and above the use of a username and password is to combine ‘what you have’ with ‘what you know’. By using smartcards, we can increase the level of security for authentication, while at the same time improving the user experience. Wherever user authentication is used, it’s vital that the only right people are able to access the information that they are authorised to see. Studies have shown that the average person cannot remember more than 6 random numbers and letters unless these are firmly committed to memory, while it's common for organisations to require 8 character ‘complex’ passwords, which may change frequently. Many also use the same password for everything. Unfortunately, people forced to use passwords are often inclined to pick either very simple ones (which are easy to ‘crack’ or guess) or otherwise they often write them down. Many cases of industrial espionage and corporate ‘hacking’ can be traced back to insecure passwords and inappropriate or non-existent management of user logon accounts.Īlthough smartcard-based authentication may not prevent a theft in the first place, or guard against sheer forgetfulness, it can stop many attempts to read private data, can help to prevent ‘leakage’ of passwords, and can improve tracking and accountability throughout an organisation. The same applies to desktop PCs, even when they reach the end of their life and are disposed of. While a lost computer may cost under £1000 to replace, the loss of documents, project management data, personal identity information and contact data could prove to have a much higher value.
By Dan Isaaman, Technical Director, Smartcard Focusĭespite the many stories of laptops left in taxis, and the sensitivity of the data that they carried, it's amazing that a laptop is stolen every minute and that 97% are never recovered.