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Making the case for better ID cards

Improving the safety of Europe's roads?

The European Commission (EC) is trying to improve road safety and working conditions throughout Europe, and card technology is playing a role in achieving this. Current European Union (EU) regulations state that all newly registered commercial vehicles with a total weight in excess of 3.5 tonnes and buses with more than nine seats must now be equipped with a digital tachograph.

What's on the cards for the Middle East?

In recent years, Middle Eastern countries have begun to recognise the importance of membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO). Prior to the Middle East working with the WTO, the region was largely closed to foreign banks and so its leading edge approach to payments and banking has been largely overlooked. But as countries around the world struggle with the roll out of chip cards, ATMs and POS terminals to support the EMV standards ahead of global mandates, it has become more apparent that the Middle East is driving a well developed and highly innovative payments landscape.

Content is king

When is a phone not a phone? When it's using some of the latest 3G technology. OK, the most innovative phones at this year's 3GSM show in Cannes can still be used for making voice calls, but in an era of market saturation and high competition, mobile operators are increasingly focused on the revenue they can generate from data and other services such as ring tones, logos, games or download services. In turn, such services are providing SIM card providers with opportunities to develop more innovative products.

Pre-authorised debit: creating cardholder choice

Pre-authorised debit is a new offline smart-card based payment method. It delivers an end-to-end low-risk debit solution that adds value to new or existing EMV infrastructures, providing a payment facility that is as secure as – and in some ways more versatile than – existing credit and debit card payment applications. But what exactly does this mean for cardholders?

Russia rings in the changes

Anyone taking bets on the likelihood of Russia becoming a dynamic market for smart cards would have offered extremely long odds in the formative days of post-Soviet Russia. Many industry players would have doubted their judgement at best, and more probably suggested they take a long rest before pinning their hopes to what was known as an ‘economic nightmare'.

Healthy decisions?

The healthcare sector is providing some interesting opportunities for the industry. With a growing appetite for the technology, we're now witnessing a variety of pilots and programmes that encompass applications as diverse as employee access to healthcare facilities, patient access to medical treatment and insurance company access to treatment details. In these areas, privacy and security are often the driving force for card rollout.

Access management: the key to compliance

One of the biggest challenges facing organisations today is coping with the increasing amount of external regulatory compliance issues that either exist or are currently being drafted. Meanwhile, organisations in both the public and private sectors are also recognising the fact that internal IT governance must be addressed as a matter of urgency. Whether internal or external compliance, Identity and Access Management (I&AM) is a key component of the IT infrastructure and the role of the smart card could become increasingly important.

A long association?

Companies join industry associations for a variety of reasons: sometimes it's to network, for others it's to be part of a collective voice that has the power to lobby governments and business groups to discuss and promote their area of expertise. With the development of technology and the convergence of markets, industry associations are being formed, merged or developed to reflect the dynamic pace of industry. The challenge for associations is to attract and maintain members while responding to industry change.

An eye on security - July/August 2004

The potential for the combined usage of biometrics and smart cards continues to emerge. With technology developments enabling costs to fall, and a growing impetus for the use of strong authentication in a number of applications, could the time be ripe for more deployments combining the two technologies?

OATH – the answer to ID theft? - July/August 2004

Online commerce and communication has long been hampered by fears about consumer security and privacy combined with a lack of standards and high costs for technologies that attempt to address these concerns. To resolve these issues, a new industry-wide collaboration was launched earlier this year. Tasking itself with the development of an open reference architecture by leveraging existing open standards for the universal adoption of strong authentication technology across all networks, the Open Authentication Reference Architecture (OATH) group aims to develop authentication, giving customers the confidence to conduct commerce online.

Biometric bytes - July/August 2004

Breaking news from the biometrics industry.

Benefits v Big Brother - June 2004

Goverments projects around the world are looking to smart card technoligy for aiding the allocation of rights, benefits and other social aid. But is there a way to reassure the public that their information is safe in their hands and won't be abused for other means? This article examines the dilemma faced between providing ID and protecting information.

Lower costs and less cash? - June 2004

The idea of an e-purse scheme appears to be good in theory. It is convenient for users and helps reduce the amount of cash in a system, thereby lowering cash handling costs. However, some e-purse schemes have failed to live up to the early marketing hype. So where now for e-purse technology?

A smart approach to wireless access - June 2004

In a 24/7 world where business is frequently conducted on the move, the demand for Wireless LAN (WLAN) technology is beginning to grow. However, this demand has created its own set of challenges. How do you ensure security over a wireless network while maintaining a good user experience? And what role can smart card technology providers play in addressing this challenge?

Centralisation – the route to controlling payment costs - May 2004

The wave of bank mergers and acquisitions that swept the financial services industry during the late 1990s have as yet unrealised promises of better value for money. With the financial sector's economic downturn biting into profits and bringing costs under the microscope more than ever before, banks need to reassess their card payments processing strategies in order to eliminate as much unnecessary expenditure as possible.

Another link in the chain? - April 2004

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is causing a stir in markets around the world, with applications in the transport and physical access control markets embracing the technology. Now, the convenience and security offered by RFID technology is making its way into new industry sectors, with a range of clients adopting it for supply chain management.

Fuelling market developments - April 2004

Smart card industry developments associated with both EMV and contactless technology are now opening up new opportunities for customers in the oil and petroleum industries. The technology has the potential to be used for a diverse range of purposes from fleet management, to purchases, to customer loyalty. While the smart card technology industry is upbeat about the prospects for this market, some fuel providers report that they still need convincing that there is a good business case for adopting the technology.

Smart cards and public key infrastructure - July/August 2003

As more and more businesses begin to rely on PKI, a secure means of storing private keys is needed. Conventional methods of storing keys, such as on computer hard drives, have disadvantages. This article explores how smart cards could provide a more portable and less vulnerable method to store the private key.

EMV migration pushes forward - February 2003

Migration to the EMV (Europay MasterCard Visa) smart card standard is the biggest card development since the magnetic stripe in the 1970s. The specifications, which come in two parts, are designed to enhance security and compatibility of payment transactions. During 2003, we will see a European-led push to issue more EMV smart cards and new acceptance equipment.

Capturing commitment - February 2003

Partnership and commitment may sound like the recipe for a perfect marriage, but an increasing number of European organisations are also discovering that these are key ingredients for loyalty programmes designed to aid cross selling, tailor promotions and drive a concentrated spend that will impact on market share.

Article Outline
Drivers
Banks
Retailers
Trends
Legislation
Creativity
Technically speaking
Barriers
Running costs
More please
A selection of smart loyalty cards in Europe

Ohio smart benefit programme meets early objectives - January 2003

A progress report, prepared by Citicorp Electronic Financial Services (which also implemented the scheme) and published by the Smart Card Alliance, on the electronic benefits transfer (EBT) programme in Ohio, claims that the scheme has removed the stigma associated with the use of paper food stamps or WIC (Women, Infant, Children) vouchers. It has also brought about operating efficiencies over and above those of magnetic stripe technology; enabled the state authorities to monitor and control costs; provided retailers with the means to eliminate losses incurred through accepting expired paper vouchers or inadequate information; and maintained or improved security.

Security worries trigger boom in reader market - January 2003

The global smart card reader and terminal market is projected to expand to a revenue level of $3307.4 million in 2006, while unit shipments are set to grow to 25.4 million in the same year, according to a new study from Frost & Sullivan.

News from Cartes 2002 - November/December 2002

Article Outline
Blood monitoring tag wins top smart card award
Best Technological Innovation
Best Software
Best IT Security Application
Best Banking/Finance Application
Best GSM Application
Best Transportation Application
Best Customer Loyalty Application
Best E-commerce Application

The European Central Bank warns against too many e-commerce initiatives - November/December 2002

The development of retail e-commerce across Europe is in danger of becoming side-tracked by a multiplicity of schemes and initiatives, says the European Central Bank (ECB).

Article Outline
Credit cards
E-money schemes
Person-to-person payments
M-payments
Payment portals

Will Canada's new Resident Card be the model for a US visitor card? - October 2002

Recent US legislation, in particular the Border Security Act, has mandated that foreigners arriving at US borders must carry a secure identity document capable of storing automatically verifiable biometrics. Against this background, the US authorities will be watching the roll-out by the Canadian government of its Permanent Resident Card (see page 1) with keen interest.

Costing a UK national ID scheme - September 2002

The UK Government has asked for opinions on a proposed universal entitlement card scheme. We summarise the cost estimates set out by the Home Office in its consultation document.

Who leads in eGovernment? - July/August 2002

eGovernment presents the smart card industry with a major market for its expertise in designing and providing identification systems. We report on developments in this fast-growing sector.

Article Outline
Who is ahead in eGovernment?
Integration
Citizen-centric
Other findings
The research

A national ID scheme? No easy answers! - June 2002

Neither the UK nor the US currently have national ID cards. Debate on their introduction is usually polarized between advocates of security and advocates of freedom. We summarize the principal arguments of a new report (from the National Research Council of the US National Academy of Sciences) which puts the issues into perspective and warns legislators against precipitate action.

Article Outline
Technological challenges
Binding persons to identities
Back-end systems
Data correlation and privacy

UK banks act to check rising card fraud - May 2002

The UK banks are to launch their first pilot of PIN verification at the point-of-sale early next year. We look at the background to this move.

Article Outline
The impact of chip technology
Initiatives
Card-not-present

The meaning of liability shift - May 2002

Kalim Qureshi, Technical Director, Thyron Technologies, gives an equipment supplier's view of the effect on retailers of forthcoming shifts in liability for card fraud.

Trust revisited: branding the PKI - April 2002

For many years a mysterious paradox has plagued the Internet trust industry, says Peter Liss, CEO of Swedish PKI specialists AddTrust, in a paper prepared for this month's Infosecurity Europe conference. Everyone needs enhanced trust, and the technology and techniques are mature and standardised –– in other words supply is ready to sell, and demand is ready to spend. Yet, when examining the numbers, we can only conclude the two are not doing a very good job at meeting one another. Branding –– as used in the credit card industry –– could provide a significant bridge between supply and demand.

Trust means different things to different people. For one community, `the trust industry' is obviously all about technologies enhancing the privacy of personal data. For another it is about PKI.

One reason that the trust industry –– whatever that means –– has taken such a long time to grow is that it is hopelessly fragmented. Privacy gurus don't talk to consumer protection advocates, who don't understand cryptographers, who in turn don't see what trustmarks have to do with their industry.

And yet, somewhere hidden among these people and their disciplines, lies the key to resolving the trust market paradox. As is not unusual in situations like these, each community has developed a special skill or an understanding that is crucial to the creation of real trust.

Turning the cutting edge into everyday use - April 2002

The Advanced Card Awards competition, timed to coincide with the InfoSecurity/SmartSolv exhibition and conference in London this April, has attracted a wide range of entries. Many of them are practical implementations of products that only a few years ago were at the cutting edge of smart card technology. Here is our guide to some of the products and implementations (under sector headings that we think appropriate) that have caught our eye this year.

The changing face of the card industry - March 2002

We look at financial results from ActivCard, Gemplus and Drexler Technology; three very different companies whose activities span an industry in transition.

Article Outline

• ActivCard
      ActivCard shows a loss, restructures business, expects growth of 30–35%in 2002
      A pivotal year
      Challenging
      A long-term game
• Gemplus
      Gemplus aims for profit in second half of 2002
      Turning the corner?
• Drexler Technology
      Drexler builds up shipments of ID cards
      Shipments
      Biometrics
      The Green Card
      Multiple biometrics
      The future

"The cheque's in the email" - February 2002

The roll-out by four major Canadian banks of the Email Money Transfers system (this issue, p.1) is a challenge to the dominance of PayPal in the person-to-person payments market.

Person-to-person (P-to-P) payment is an aspect of the electronic money revolution that has defeated some of the smartest minds in the financial and IT worlds. When it came down to testing the business case, introducing new forms of cash –– such as Beenz, Digicash or even Mondex –– just didn't seem to be justified.

The UK Government's first smart identity card - January 2002

The Application Registration Card (ARC), as the Home Office smart card for asylum seekers is known, is intended to provide fast and positive identification of applicants subsequent to their initial processing at ports of entry or at the Croydon Asylum Seekers Unit.

"This is not a security system," said Home Office consultant Gerry Gardner, when he presented an outline of the system at the recent Biometrics 2001 conference in London. "It is designed to stop asylum seekers who may be doing unlawful things –– for instance, applying twice for benefits. It seeks to answer quickly and accurately the question: do we know this person previously?"

The challenge facing any government seeking to control immigration and asylum is to create a system that can provide a quick and accurate answer to two questions: who are you and what is your immigration status?

For an answer to the question on status, an answer to the first question, who are you? is required.

The Connexions Card finds its way into young pockets - January 2002

The UK Government's record in implementing smart card technology is decidedly patchy. But the Connexions Card is one initiative that actually looks as if it will make headway.

Market Surveys

China: an emerging tiger - May 2004

Seen as one of the most interesting markets for members of the smart card industry, China's place on the world stage makes it a hot target for suppliers of smart cards, terminals, technology and integration services. The country poses exciting challenges, and these are being met head on by a combination of domestic and international technology vendors.

A sporting chance for smart cards? - February 2004

Smart card technology has much to offer the sports, leisure and tourism industries and, with these sectors becoming increasingly important players in the global economy, they could provide more opportunities for the smart card industry. Many segments of these markets (referred to collectively as the `leisure industry' in this feature) are well accustomed to card-based membership schemes. Potentially, this familiarity could act as a stepping-stone to smart card-based technologies. However, this can only be achieved if smart card technology delivers a strong business case.

A year for all sectors - January 2004

As we enter 2004, the smart card industry appears to be in a buoyant mood. With developments in new and existing market sectors, combined with ongoing technical efforts, the year ahead could provide some interesting challenges and opportunities.

Smart cards move onwards - October 2003

Several contract announcements made during the last 12 months demonstrate that smart card technology is really coming of age in the mass transit sector. Driven by developments in contactless technology and strong business cases, some insiders are even going as far as calling this the technology's 'killer app'.

The Pay TV market - September 2003

The global television industry is growing and changing rapidly. As broadcasters work to protect their revenues and build their client bases, smart card technology is developing a role with many media organisations.

Identifying opportunities - July/August 2003

The last 12 months have seen the smart card industry notch up several new contracts in the national ID sector. As demand –– and interest –– in smart national ID cards grows, the industry is poised to benefit from the growing political impetus to provide additional applications on the smart card. However, in parts of the world, all these developments are occurring against a backdrop of concerns over the privacy implications of such technology

One card - many uses - June 2003

Educational establishments, cities and communities are providing numerous opportunities for smart card players to make an impact on the everyday lives of citizens. With advances in standards coupled with falling costs, many people are beginning to realise that with one multi-application card, 'less' can indeed mean 'more'.

Securing e-commerce applications - May 2003

Although smart cards are now beginning to make a significant impact in the traditional financial, identity and transit markets, many industry insiders report that the e-commerce market is still disappointingly slow. In fact, some people have told CTT "each year people say this is the year for smart cards to really take off in e-commerce, and each year the reality fails to live up to expectations." Part of the problem is a classic `chicken and egg' situation: Without chip technology, there is little point in implementing a chip acceptance device. Likewise, without a critical mass of chip readers in operation, what is the point of implementing a chip card?

Smart cards ringing in the changes - April 2003

Anybody with half an eye on the telecoms industry will know that the last few years have been somewhat volatile. In the late 1990s, telecoms stock rose, the media was full of `good news' stories about the potential for mobile technology, and large parts of the world experienced a surge in demand for the technology. This was followed by a reality check and finally the bursting of the telecoms bubble in 2001. With the downturn in the market, operators and card manufacturers became cautious investors, and the world experienced an erosion of prices for telecoms products and services.