How is the Smart Cards Work?

Written by IT News on 9:36 AM

Smart cards are electronic devices with a striking similarity with credit cards, albeit with a wider range of applications and higher levels of security. Typical credit cards the basis of all plastics. Credit card information is stored on magnetic tape similar to that of magnetic tape that use in audio cassettes, which makes it a read / write relatively simple operations.

Shortcoming of the typical credit card is that most of the information must be stored in mainframe computer, Internet networks, where it is verified and processed.
Smart cards, however, be replaced by magnetic storage unit for the credit card with embedded microprocessor for storing information. Since credit cards are shown first in the United States and became popular in Europe lately, rich-based networks should be built to create a secure environment for the use of credit cards. Although, as the never-developed infrastructure in Europe.

So, to compensate for this, smart cards are intended. A smart card does not ask about computer security, as all necessary security is built in microprocessor. When a computer communicate with the microprocessor card asked for access to data from memory cards from banks.

A typical smart card memory has three separate banks, two of which are discs (read only memory) and one is RAM (random access memory) - 8 kilobytes of RAM, 346 kilobytes of ROM and additional programmable ROM with 256 kilobytes of memory , Controlled by the 16 - bit microprocessor.

Except for routine use in the banking sector, smart cards can also be used for computer security systems, wireless communications, loyalty systems, satellite TV access, or even the government identification. In Germany, for example, every citizen has a smart card used for health insurance. In the United States on the other hand, still uses the classic credit card for banking operations, but smart cards are slowly starting to gather speed as i.

Some of smart cards can be used by personal computer applications, to provide secure Internet transactions, or through mobile phones and vending machines.