Smart card
A smart card is a plastic card embedded with an integrated circuit chip that securely stores and processes data. This technology facilitates a variety of functions, including banking transactions, health care identification, and access to public transportation systems. Common types of smart cards include credit and debit cards, identification cards, and SIM cards used in mobile phones. Introduced in 1984 for telephone payments in France, smart cards gained widespread adoption in the 1990s with the development of EMV chip technology by major credit card companies, enhancing transaction security.
Smart cards offer significant advantages, such as tamperproof design and high-level security features that protect against fraud and identity theft. They can be categorized into contact and contactless types, with contact cards requiring insertion into a reader and contactless cards transmitting data via radio frequencies. These cards play a crucial role in everyday activities, providing a convenient and secure means of managing financial and personal information. As smart card technology continues to evolve, it remains a key component of modern transactions and identification processes worldwide.
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Subject Terms
Smart card
A smart card is a plastic card that has an embedded chip to securely store and process data. To access the information, the card must be connected to a card reader that operates as part of a computer system or network. Smart cards are used in banking, health care, and transportation. The most common types of smart cards are credit and debit cards, identification cards, insurance cards, access cards, and SIM (subscriber identity module) cards on cell phones. Considered tamperproof, smart cards offer a high level of security to protect against fraud and provide convenience for transactions. The easy-to-use technology has become a staple of daily life.
Overview
Smart cards, also called chip cards, contain personal information, stored value, or access to financial functions on an embedded integrated circuit chip. They can be used to pay for purchases and keep track of customer loyalty programs. They can identify individuals through driver licenses, electronic passports, and employee badges. They can transmit patient information, and some are used to access public transportation.
Because of their small size, smart cards are easy to carry and handle. Upon use, cardholders are required to submit their signatures or enter a personal identification number (PIN).
The technology was developed in 1984 to pay for telephone calls in France. In the 1990s, three major credit card companies—Europay, Mastercard, and Visa—created the EMV smart card with chip technology to facilitate fast payments for purchases. The technology spread across Europe. Many countries have issued smart cards to citizens for use as health insurance.
In 2014, the United States began to implement smart card technology to provide consumers with more protection from identity theft. This marked a shift from magnetic stripe technology, in which a dark-colored stripe on the back of a plastic card was swiped through a reader. However, counterfeiting equipment could easily read the information on a magnetic stripe.
Smart cards offer several features to protect privacy and prevent fraud. They provide multiple levels of security and authentication, restricting access to authorized users. Smart cards are very difficult to duplicate. They contain encryption capabilities that detect and deflect tampering attempts.
The chip on smart cards is located underneath a gold contact pad on the front. The chip can be either a microprocessor or a memory chip. A microprocessor acts like a minicomputer. It can hold large amounts of information and interact with a card reader while providing high security. A memory chip offers less security because it is dependent upon the security of the card reader.
Smart card technology is divided into two categories: contact and contactless. A contact smart card must be placed directly into a card reader. The data is transmitted through the points where the reader and the chip touch. A contactless smart card transmits information just by being near the card reader. The card and the reader can then communicate through radio frequencies.
Smart cards are available in different forms, including card-sized devices, key fobs, and smart tokens. SIM cards manage subscriber information in cell phones on the GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications) standard.
People use smart cards for a variety of everyday activities, from buying groceries or riding the bus to making phone calls. The technology provides a secure means of transmitting data for the transactions that have become an essential part of daily life.
Bibliography
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