10.3 Summary

In this chapter, you've learned how smart cards work and how they interact with the native Windows logon process. You understand the hardware and software requirements for smart cards and how smart cards can be used to provide secure general purpose cryptography as well as logon cryptography. While smart cards require a monetary investment and a well-designed PKI, they also provide more secure, more effective user identification and remove much of the burden corporate security usually places on users.

As these smart card solutions become less expensive and security becomes more of a concern for large corporations, smart card solutions will undoubtedly become widespread. In the future, many enterprises may use smart cards to enforce multifactor authentication for all data access. You now have the knowledge to deploy smart cards for your organization and use them to enhance security while keeping the user's login and ongoing security experience pleasant.