What is a smart card? _2

A smart card is similar to a credit card in size and shape, but has a completely different interior. First, it has an interior - a normal credit card is a simple piece of plastic. The inside of a smart card usually contains an embedded microprocessor. The microprocessor is under a gold contact pad on the side of the card. Think of the microprocessor as replacing the usual magnetic stripe on a credit or debit card.

What is a smart card?

Smart cards are more popular in Europe than in the United States. In Europe, smart cards are widely used in the health insurance and banking industries. Every German citizen has a health insurance smart card. Even though smart cards have been around in modern form for at least a decade, they are just starting to take off in the United States.

Magnetic stripe technology is still widely used in the United States. However, the data on the stripes can be easily read, written, deleted or changed using off-the-shelf devices. As a result, stripes really arent the best place to store sensitive information. To protect consumers, U.S. companies have invested in a large network of online host computers for authentication and processing. In Europe, such an infrastructure has not been developed - instead, the card still comes with intelligence.

The microprocessor on the smart card is secure. The host computer and the card reader actually talk to the microprocessor. The microprocessor forces access to the data on the card. If the host reads and writes to the smart cards random access memory (RAM), it is no different from a floppy disk.

A smart card may have up to 8 kilobytes of RAM, 346 kilobytes of ROM, 256 kilobytes of programmable ROM, and a 16-bit microprocessor. Smart cards use a serial interface and receive power from an external source, such as a card reader. The processor uses a limited instruction set for applications such as encryption.