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Reports and white papers

The Smart Card Alliance Secure Personal ID Task Force develops reports and white papers that discuss the role that smartcards play in the implementation of privacy-sensitive secure ID systems. The following publications are currently available as free downloads or as purchased reports:

* "Logical access security: the role of smartcards in strong authentication"

This report describes the current trends in implementing secure logical access. Written for decision makers in enterprises and government agencies, the report discusses current issues with logical access, reviews alternative approaches for authentication and presents key considerations that organisations should take into account when implementing stronger authentication for logical access. The benefits of using smartcards for logical access are presented, along with key business case factors that should be considered when deciding to invest in new technology for strong authentication. The report also describes the support provided for smartcards by the Microsoft Windows and Linux operating systems. Included in the report are several profiles of organisations currently using smart ID cards for logical access - Boeing, Microsoft, Rabobank, Shell Group, Sun Microsystems, US Department of Defense and US Department of State.

* "Secure identification systems: building a chain of trust"

This report discusses the importance of a robust chain of trust for secure ID systems. Developed for decision makers, the report summarises why today's ID systems are vulnerable, what makes an identification system secure, and what factors need to be considered in developing a secure ID system's chain of trust. It defines the components of a secure ID system and discusses key considerations for enrolment, issuance, usage and implementation. The report describes how a robust chain of trust can be implemented to authenticate an individual's identity and ensure the validity of the ID and credential once the ID has been issued and is in use. It describes the role smartcards play in the chain of trust, discusses smartcard implementation considerations, and summarises how smartcards can help to address the key vulnerabilities of current ID systems. The report also includes brief profiles of a number of organisations who are either implementing new secure ID systems or who are developing the trust models and policies that other organisation can use to improve ID systems.

* "HIPAA compliance and smartcards: solutions to privacy and security requirements"

This report discusses how smartcards can help health care providers and insurance companies meet the requirements of HIPAA Privacy and Security Rules. Designed as an educational overview for decision makers, it summarises the HIPAA privacy and security requirements, provides an overview on how smartcards work, describes how smartcards can be used to support HIPAA compliance and implement other health care applications, and outlines key implementation success factors. The report includes profiles of several US and international smart health card implementations.

* "Using smartcards for secure physical access"

This report provides a primer for understanding physical access control systems that use a smart ID card for personal identification. Designed as an educational overview for decision makers and security planners, the report describes physical access system architecture and components, provides guidance on key implementation considerations, describes smartcard technologies used for physical and logical access, discusses migration considerations in moving from legacy physical access systems to smartcard-based systems and showcases other applications that can be combined with a smartcard-based secure physical access system.

* "Privacy and secure identification systems: the role of smartcards as a privacy-enabling technology"

This white paper defines privacy as the concept applied to an identification system and discusses how privacy considerations affect system design and implementation. It reviews how smartcards can provide a privacy-enabling technology for different ID systems, how they interact with other system components (eg, smartcard readers and host systems), and how smartcards can address the growing problem of identity theft. The paper recommends key guidelines for business practices and system designs that can help protect privacy.

* "Contactless technology for secure physical access: technology and standards choices"

This report provides a tutorial on the operation of a physical access control system, describes the three primary contactless technologies in use today for physical access control (125 kHz, ISO/IEC 14443 13,56 MHz and ISO/IEC 15693 13,56 MHz) and discusses key considerations in the design of a secure identification system that uses contactless technology.

* "Smartcards and biometrics in a privacy-sensitive Secure personal identification system"

This report is written for executive level technology and security managers and provides an overview of how biometrics and smartcards can be used to provide the highest security. The report discusses the definition of a secure identification system, the function of biometrics in ID systems, biometric technology choices and the advantages of coupling biometrics with smartcard technology.

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