Smart card authentication is a mechanism by which a plastic card, typically with gold-plated contact pads, is used to store certificates used by the end user to authenticate. Smart cards are used throughout many industries, including military, healthcare, education, retail, and the scientific community. The advantages of smart card authentication are as follows:
It requires the end user to have the authentication mechanism
It requires the end user to successfully provide the answer to a challenge (PIN)
Smart card authentication is a two-factor authorization mechanism that requires the end user to physically possess a smart card as well as enter in a PIN successfully. The PIN does not authenticate the end user to the domain; instead, the PIN authenticates the end user to the certificate on the smart card. The certificate on the smart card is then used to authenticate the end user to the domain. Smart card authentication is already a standard practice within hospitals...