Microsoft has chipped in with Windows 2000, featuring Windows for Smart Cards, and many keyboard manufacturers are integrating smart-card readers. Health care leads the charge with a projected 140 million smart cards in use in the U.S. by 2003. Digital identities are critical. Corporate e-business security requires knowing who you communicate with, and who accesses your network employees, customers, partners or anyone else. PKI employs digital certificates to validate user identities and enable digital signing of transactions for non-repudiation in B2B and consumer dealings.
Companies recognize the advantages of e-business security.
However, the effectiveness of PKI is limited to the security of digital certificates, which are usually secured with passwords and stored on hard drives, where they are vulnerable to abuse. When stored on secure, removable smart cards, certificates become inaccessible to anyone but their rightful owners. This achieves two-factor authentication device and user. Gemplus is a solutions provider, adding value to make online dealings safe. References comprise members of the global bank consortium, Identrus, as well as deployments of GemSAFE and GemUtilities .