Smart card technology is the best defense businesses can adopt to protect information stored and released via networks, Intranets and the Internet. The inherent high security technology employed in smart cards provide companies and individuals peace-of-mind that information is secure from unwanted intrusions while individual privacy rights are met. SEF Technology™ has integrated smart card capabilities for our customers to maximize these benefits in seamless product solutions.

Various smart card applications in use today include:

• Access Control
• Identification
• Banking/payment
• Stored value
• Loyalty and promotion
• Ticketing
• Toll collection and parking
• Personal/data storage
• Medical/data storage and payment

STG Smart Card Product Solutions

….but not limited to these alone.

Healthcare and Patient smart card

This robust solution offers both healthcare professionals and patients a complete Electronic Medical Record (EMR). Adhering to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) regulations and patient privacy requirements our product offers an enterprise solution incorporating patient, physician and hospital staff individual smart cards allowing system access plus storing personal medical information.

Physical Access Control via Contactless smart card

This solution utilizes contactless smart card technology to securely allow access to buildings. If required, an employee card can not just allow street access it can also be used to monitor movement within buildings by either allowing or denying entry into secure locations within a building.

Vaccination smart card (VacCard™)

This long awaited solution allows, via a smart card, the most secure method to store and track vaccinations. With this card individuals can store, retrieve and update vaccination information. The system can even alert parents when child vaccinations are due plus, allow for retrieval when needed for doctor visits or enrolling into new schools.

Network Login

With the ever increasing need to protect company information while controlling access to corporate IT resources authenticating employees is a must in the mobile world of today. Employee smart cards are programmed to give individuals access to the only resources they need wherever they log onto company networks. Hence, individual experience with the PC desktop is unique and fully controlled.

Smart Card FAQ’s

What is a smart card?

Equivalent in size to a credit card, the smart card has embedded in it either a microprocessor or memory chip and has the processing power to serve a multitude of applications. Used as an access control device smart cards make personal and business data available to specified users plus, providing data portability, security and convenience.

Memory vs. Microprocessor smart cards

Memory cards simply store data and can be viewed with optional security. Microprocessor cards have functionalities like a computer, (i.e. operation system, storage and onboard security) thus, allowing full data manipulation.

Contact vs. Contactless vs. Combi smart cards

The main interfaces of smart cards are 2: Contact and Contactless. Contact smart cards are inserted into a reader making physical contact between the chip in the card and reader device. Contactless smart cards have an antenna embedded in the card connected to the chip that enables communication with the reader without physical contact. Combi smart cards combine the functionality of contact and contactless cards in one with greater levels of security.

How are smart cards used?

Smart cards are used by an ever increasing number of businesses to expand their product and service capabilities. In today’s global economy ever higher levels of security and privacy issues demand the use of advance smart card security applications.

Businesses, governments and healthcare organizations are advancing the ways they store and disseminate information via Intranets and the Internet. Smart card technology is the obvious choice to make information readily available to the appropriate users while protecting individual privacy and preventing intrusions from hackers.

The wide arrays of smart card uses included but not limited too are:

• Secure logon and authentication
• Secure B2B and B2C ecommerce
• Data storage and encryption
• Digital certificates, credentials and password storage
• GSM in mobile phones for wireless communication

What are the major benefits that smart cards offer consumers?

Security benefits

• encryption processing capabilities
• stored card information can be PIN code, biometric authentication and/or read/write protected
• each smart card chip contains a unique serial number and is tamper resistant

Intelligence benefits

• information processing capabilities
• communication with computing devices (PC’s, PDA’s, etc…) through smart card reader

Convenience benefits

• Smart cards provide a familiar form factor providing optimal portability

What makes a smart card different from a magnetic stripe card?

The basic difference is a smart card has processing capabilities and can carry far more data securely than a magnetic stripe card.

How secure and confidential is information that is stored on smart cards?

Smart cards have processing power providing enhanced security plus, verification of individual card holders. These factors make them ideal for storing information like private keys (PKI), passwords, account numbers, biometric verification data and personal information.

“What truly makes smart card technology standout from others is the capability to provide user authentication and data use off-line. This gives businesses utilizing smart cards the competitive-edge over its competition that supply Internet only based applications that can only provide on-line use of critical data…”