Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication

HP Printers get smart card-enabled

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

ActivIdentity Corp. announced that its ActivClient smart card technology is available to customers at the U.S. Department of Defense using select HP multifunction printers.

The new solution requires employees to verify identity upon access to the device, or to multifunction printer features and functions. The software safeguards printed and scanned documents and provides added convenience and secure identification of e-mail signing directly from the printer.


The ActivClient solution used with the HP printers is enabled to work with the U.S. Department of Defense’s Common Access Card program.

“Our relationship with HP helps customers reduce security risks associated with multiple users sharing the same printing resources, a common practice in the work place and one that risks sensitive information easily falling into the wrong hands,” said Simon Wakely, vice president of business development at ActivIdentity. [end] 

The Dutch Ministry of Defense (MoD) has chosen Identive’s SmartFold smart card readers to provide secure remote network access for its employees.

The agency has a lot of restricted and sensitive data that has particular management requirements. The MoD felt that the Identive contact smart card reader would provide the desired level of security, yet be flexible enough to incorporate into the existing network security infrastructure.

read more »

Datacard Group announced a new partnership with DED Limited, a UK-based distributor of point-of-sale equipment, plastic card printers and specialty printers. The partnership will help expand the reach of the Datacard standard desktop ID solutions throughout the Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region.

read more »

Identive Group has shipped an additional 122,000 smart card readers to support Spain’s national electronic ID card program which the government launched in 2009. More than half of Spain’s 46 million citizens now carry the ID cards.

read more »

Prisoners at Tihar prisons, located near New Delhi, India, will now be using smart cards instead of paper coupons for their food purchases.

As reported by The Economic Times, the former system of paper food coupons led to misuse and illegal activity within the jail. Some prisoners would use it for currency in order to get banned substances or buy favors from others.

read more »

A variant of malware called Sykipot is circulating that purportedly enables it to hijack U.S. Defense Department Common Access Cards and Windows smart cards, according to Alien Vault Labs. This variant, which appears to have been put together in March 2011, has been seen in dozens of attack samples from the past year.

read more »

Biometric Associates has released its baiMobile 3000MP Bluetooth Smart Card Reader, which is designed specifically for mobile platforms. It supports iOS 4.x for iPhone and iPad and Android OS 2.2 and higher, and it operates with Bluetooth version 2.1 and higher.

read more »