Organizations of all sizes and in all industries are working to improve the process used to identify users to their networked systems. With the growing use of wired and wireless networks to access information resources and the increasing occurrence of identity theft and attacks on corporate networks, password-based user authentication is increasingly acknowledged to be a significant security risk. Both enterprises and government agencies are moving to replace simple passwords with stronger, multi-factor authentication systems that strengthen information security, respond to market and regulatory conditions, and lower support costs.

Smart cards support all of the authentication technologies, storing password files, public key infrastructure certificates, one-time password seed files, and biometric image templates, as well as generating asymmetric key pairs. A smart card used in combination with one or more authentication technologies provides stronger multi-factor authentication and significantly strengthens logical access security. Smart card technology also provides the flexibility for including all authentication factors in a single smart card, improving the security and privacy of the overall authentication process.

Smart cards are increasingly accepted as the credential of choice for securely controlling physical access. Standards-based smart ID cards can be used to easily authenticate a person’s identity, determine the appropriate level of access, and physically admit the cardholder to a facility. Through the appropriate use of contact or contactless smart card technology in the overall physical access system design, security professionals can implement the strongest possible security policies for any situation.

Smart cards are used worldwide as campus IDs at colleges and universities, often combining access, identification and payment functions. Selected active campus ID smart card implementations are listed below.