1. By: Piyumi Peiris 11 EDO

2. Swipe cards are a common type of security device used by many people. They are usually a business-card-sized plastic card with a magnetic strip on one side and user details stamped or printed on the other, such as credit and ATM cards. The magnetic strip contains information about the owner of the card, including their PIN. Swipe cards are used for electronic transactions- such as to pay for groceries in a supermarket. They are also used for internal security within an organization. Access to certain areas may be restricted by a swipe-card reader connected to a computer-controlled door. The card would contain information about the owner’s security level and would only open the door for those with proper authority.

3. Swipe cards are also used in some hotels as electronic door keys. A limitation of a swipe card is that it can be easily damaged by magnetic fields. If stolen, they offer little protection from a thief with a swipe card reader that can capture the data from it.

5. A smart card looks similar to a swipe card, except that it has a microchip embedded in it to store and manipulate data. Common smart cards include prepaid Telstra telephone cards and photocopy cards used in many schools and universities. Credit cards, electronic cash, wireless communication, satellite TV and banking are more applications involving the use of smart cards. Patient smart cards, with complete security, carry personal details on current health problems and medications and also points to where medical records for the patient can be found. The memory of a smart card may be as little as 2 K or as much as 32 K. As the cards themselves do not store a lot of information, there is little memory required.

6. The inside of a smart card usually contains an embedded microprocessor. The microprocessor is under a gold contact pad on one side of the card. Think of the microprocessor as replacing the usual magnetic stripe on a credit card or debit card. The microprocessor on the smart card is there for security. The host computer and card reader actually "talk" to the microprocessor.

7. A digital signature is basically a way to ensure that an electronic document (e-mail, spreadsheet, text file, etc.) is authentic. Authentic means that you know who created the document and you know that it has not been altered in any way since that person created it. Digital signatures rely on certain types of encryption to ensure authentication. Encryption is the process of taking all the data that one computer is sending to another and encoding it into a form that only the other computer will be able to decode. Authentication is the process of verifying that information is coming from a trusted source. These two processes work hand in hand for digital signatures. There are several ways to authenticate a person or information on a computer. The use of a user name, password and encryption are some of them.

8. A signature verification device compares a stored copy of your signature with the signature that you have written on a pressure-sensitive tablet. Both pressure and motion are measured. As you write the signature it is being “digitally” burned into the document. This is a very secure system. It is encrypted and has the date stamped to help prove your signature.

9. A security token is a small device the size of a key ring. It is used when dealing with financial or sensitive information, as it displays a constantly changing authentication code. When the user goes to access information, they need to enter their account name, their password and then the authentication code displayed on the security token. This code would change every one to five minutes or so. This provides an extra level of assurance known as ‘two- factor authentication’. Even if the token is lost, it cannot be used to access sensitive information because both the account name and the password are needed as well.