Chipcard Reader: Another security measure for your data<\/p>\n
By Zatni Arbi<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): First of all, some of you out there have been
\nasking for my E-mail address. You have requested a much simpler
\nway to share information with me. Okay.<\/p>\n
I truly appreciate your interest in my column and I am sure
\nyou will send me a lot of useful information and tips that I can
\nshare with other readers. So, to show you my appreciation, I will
\nreveal my E-mail address. It is: zatni@myself.com.<\/p>\n
No. That is the correct E-mail address. There are no typos.<\/p>\n
However, I'd like to remind you that there is one question I
\nam not going to answer. That is: \"How in the world did you get
\nsuch a cool address?\"<\/p>\n
On the Cards<\/p>\n
Cool E-mail addresses aside, let's talk about cards. You all
\nknow a lot about cards. In the past, we have all played cards to
\nkill time. In Las Vegas, in addition to killing time, cards are
\nused to test your luck. Usually you end up broke but it is a lot
\nof fun.<\/p>\n
However, as the world becomes more and more digitally
\nequipped, your life is also becoming more and more dependent on
\ndifferent kinds of cards. Some of these other cards may contain
\ndigital data but they are, nevertheless, all the same. There are
\ncredit cards, debit cards, charge cards, ATM cards, discount
\ncards, not to mention ID cards, driving licenses, golf club
\nmembership cards and the ubiquitous business cards.<\/p>\n
You have one charge card for each gas station where you go for
\na fill-up. You have one card for each of the supermarkets where
\nyou buy your weekly supplies. Soon even your money will come in a
\nso-called smart card.<\/p>\n
The smart card has been widely predicted to become your
\nelectronic purse in the near future. If you need money, all you
\nhave to do is go to your bank and get your smart cards \"charged\".
\nLater, when you make purchases at Sogo or Makro or Gucci the
\nsales clerks will simply transfer the amount from your smart
\ncards to their stores' accounts. You'll have to recharge these
\ncards again when the purchasing power becomes low.<\/p>\n
Well, of course, it may not be entirely necessary for you to
\ngo to the bank to get a fresh supply of digital wampum. You can
\nperhaps download it from your bank right into your smart cards
\nwith the help of your PC. That will help a lot.<\/p>\n
You can just imagine the embarrassment of hearing the teller
\nsay that you do not have enough in your accounts to recharge your
\nsmart card. You hope that her voice was not loud enough for the
\npeople behind you, or the people at the next counter, to hear.<\/p>\n
At home you will be able to get exactly the same information
\nin the absence of other human beings. You may feel depressed
\nafterwards but at least you avoid the embarrassment.<\/p>\n
In addition to keeping track of your buying capacity, smart
\ncards will also store other important personal data. It sounds so
\ninteresting but at the same time it is also very frightening,
\ndon't you think?<\/p>\n
Even though our wallets are already bulging with all sorts of
\ncards, these are not the only cards that we will have to carry
\nwith us as we leave for work each morning. If you had a chance to
\nvisit the recent Networks Indonesia 97 exhibition, you might have
\nseen another type of card for your computer: the chipcard.<\/p>\n
I first learned about the chipcard -- some people write it as
\ntwo separate words \"chip card\" -- when I visited Siemens Nixdorf
\n(SNI) booth in one of those big computer exhibitions at the
\nJakarta Convention Center early last year. Until the recent
\nNetworks Indonesia 97, I thought SNI was still the only PC vendor
\nto offer this feature on their client PCs and workstations.<\/p>\n
Not just a key<\/p>\n
A chipcard stores data about its owner. Well, that much is
\neasily understood. In addition to basic data, the card also tells
\nthe computer how much access the machine -- or the network it is
\nconnected to -- should allow the user to have. It tells the
\ncomputer which subdirectories or servers are off limits to the
\nowner of the chipcard. This is a good protection mechanism and it
\nensures that only authorized staff members can access sensitive
\ndata.<\/p>\n
Imagine yourself as the owner of a company that collects,
\nmanages and processes a huge amount of sensitive data. When your
\nstaff come to the office, each worker has to insert his or her
\ncard into the chipcard reader at the entrance door to gain
\nentrance to the premises. That is security at its lowest level.<\/p>\n
Take the example of a female information worker who spends her
\ntime sitting in front of a computer. After making it past the
\nsecurity doors she heads toward her cubicle. The only way she can
\nturn on her machine, though, is to insert her chipcard into the
\nchipcard reader. When she does this the computer will instantly
\nturn itself on. She still needs to type in her password, since it
\ncan always happen that somebody steals the card and uses it to
\nsteal valuable data.<\/p>\n
The chipcard, among others, is offered in an SNI product,
\nspecifically designed for the network computer (NC), called the
\nScenic Pro Net S. The chipcard reader and NC combination provide
\na good example of how a chipcard reader will be able to maximize
\ndata security by controlling access. Tellers in a bank, for
\nexample, do not need a fully fledged PC. All they need is an NC,
\nwhich is much cheaper to buy and maintain. With the chipcard,
\ntellers can work in shifts without having to worry about data
\nintegrity and security. They just leave the cards in the slots
\nfor as long as they work. When they are done for the day, they
\njust pull out the card and the computer will shut down
\nautomatically. This will also allow tellers to work on any NC and
\nthe chipcard will allow the system administrator to keep track of
\nwho is working where and doing what.<\/p>\n
Data scrambling<\/p>\n
SNI also offers the chipcard with its personal workstation,
\nthe Celsius. Another significant benefit that comes with this
\ncomputer is the encryption of sensitive data in the hard disks.
\nOnly staff members with the right level of authority can read
\nwhat is stored in a scrambled subdirectory or an entire hard
\ndisk, for example.<\/p>\n
So, if the workstation ever gets stolen the thieves will never
\nbe able to access the information in the hard disk. They may try
\ntaking out the hard disk and putting it on another system, but
\nthe data will remain inaccessible because it requires the right
\nchipcard in the slot.<\/p>\n
Other functions<\/p>\n
It would also be nice if we could enter one of those Internet
\ncafes or Internet centers (such as the one you can find at
\nSingapore's Changi Airport), insert our chipcard into the
\ncomputer's reader and have an instant connection to the Internet
\nwithout having to manually change the parameters.<\/p>\n
How did I think of this? Well, recently in Denpasar, Bali, a
\nfriend used my notebook computer to open his E-mail. After that I
\nwas not able to connect to my ISP because he had changed many of
\nthe parameters. I figure an Internet chipcard will help us do
\naway with all these hassles.<\/p>",
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