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