Smartcards are not strictly speaking a derivative of PKI (many would argue that smartcards pre-date PKI), but we cover them here under derivatives for two reasons. First, PKI has become prevalent as an integrated part of most modern smartcards, including banking cards, national ID, employee ID, and health & welfare. And second, the attractive features of on-chip key generation and integrated digital signing services make smartcards an increasingly important key medium in PKI.

US Government smartcard resources

• US Government smartcard homepage (standards & interoperability)
• US Government Smart Card Handbook by the US General Services Administration
• "Approach for Business case analysis of using PKI on smart cards for Government-wide applications" by the CIO PKI/Smartcard Project, April 2001.

Important PKI enabled smartcard schemes

• US Personal Id Verification (PIV) card
• France Sesam Vitale
• Germany Gesundheitskarte (German language)
• Estonian National ID Card
• Malaysia MyKad National UID Card
• Hong Kong SMARTICS National ID Card

Important smartcard standards

• FIPS 201 "Personal Identity Verification (PIV) of Federal Employees and Contractors"
• ISO 7816 "Identification cards - Integrated circuit(s) cards with contacts"