Smart Cards: The Developer's Toolkit

Chapter 9. Authorization: Public Keys Without the Infrastructure

Introduction

Public key smart cards are most often found in public key infrastructures (PKIs) and typically are associated with authentication (i.e., with the certified identification of an individual). A lot of conferences have been held and a lot of venture capital burned pursuing the commercial viability of authentication services based on PKIs with, to date, relatively little net effect. Stefan Brand and Bruce Schneier and Carl Ellison have raised a number of cautions and concerns regarding the use of public key smart cards as identity tokens. At the same time, events have stimulated the consideration of public keys, along with biometric smart cards, as more general identity tokens. ...