Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication

GSA approves Athena's smart cards and middleware for PIV

Monday, November 17, 2008

Athena Smartcard Solutions, a developer of smart cards, announced that the Athena IDProtect Duo PIV, contact-contactless smart card was approved by U.S. General Services Administration for deployment in HSPD-12 programs.


The Athena IDProtect Duo PIV card incorporates FIPS 201 requirements and is listed on the U.S. General Services Administration Approved Product List. Products listed on the GSA APL may be purchased by government agencies. The Athena PIV supports Java Card 2.2.2 specifications and can carry 72KB of data including certificates and biometric data supporting both logical and physical access applications.

The Athena PIV card, developed and supported by Athena’s California development center, utilizes Atmel’s AT90SC12872RCFT dual interface secure microcontroller which is Common Criteria EAL5+ certified. CPI, a U.S.-based plastic card manufacturer, produces the card. [end] 

Global Industry Analysts Inc. released a report forecasting the outlook on the global smart card market to reach 10.9 billion units by 2015.

GIA credits the growth driven largely by major initiatives in the financial, government and security sectors, with the telecom sector at the way ahead of the pack as the largest end-user. Increasing usage of contactless technology, newer applications and mandatory EMV migration across countries are also major drivers boosting the global market for smart cards.

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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.

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MarketsandMarkets has published a new report predicting that the NFC market will reach over $10 billion by 2016 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38% from 2011 to 2016.

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Salamander Technologies announced that its MOBILE and MOBILE PIV software has been validated by Motorola Solutions.

The Motorola Solutions’ Validated Solution Program includes joint testing at the Motorola Solution Center in Holtsville, New York. MOBILE software provides bar code and smart card reading to identify and track personnel and companies at an incident, emergency or field event.

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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.

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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.

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