Microprocessor cards (also known as smart cards) represent the culmination of technological achievements strongly linked to mathematical apparatus. Microprocessor cards can be offered to a wide range of potential users as a tool that guarantees the security of various types of operations, including banking and administrative ones, while being both handy and resistant to external interference.
A microprocessor card, popularly but incorrectly called a “chip” card, is a piece of plastic with an embedded electronic circuit and belongs to the category of active systems, i.e., those capable of not only storing but also processing information. Besides microprocessor cards, there are also very popular magnetic stripe cards and, less frequently, optical cards, in which data is recorded in a manner analogous to CD storage. All mentioned types of cards have unified sizes defined by the relevant standard. It is worth noting that SIM cards for mobile phones, although differing in size from bank cards, are also microprocessor cards. The features distinguishing microprocessor cards from magnetic cards are the ability to store a significantly larger amount of data (almost 2 orders of magnitude more), the ability to process data, and, above all, an incomparably more effective level of security, which will be discussed further. Microprocessor cards, alongside memory cards (including memory cards with a security block), constitute one of the types of electronic cards. The existence of a microprocessor in the card’s integrated circuit determines its functionality and, consequently, its purpose. A card with a microprocessor, still most often 8-bit, is de facto a microcomputer.
The article comes from the magazine “e-Fakty” 1/2005.