I cannot find a smart card or Common Access Card reader that also has a built in keypad. I am amazed that this is not a more common thing and I would be surprised to learn that nobody makes such a thing. HP and Dell make plenty of full-sized keyboards with built-in CAC readers, but it doesn’t appear as if they make them with just a keypad. I’ve seen so many people who have both a USB CAC reader and a separate stand-alone keypad, that integrating the two into one device seems obvious.
Does anyone make such a thing? Here is what I’m talking about:
It would plug in to a laptop via USB. Certainly needs a display, it’s just a computer peripheral. If I need someone to insert their CAC into the reader to sign something or log in to their account for something, it’s awkward to have them come around the desk to do that. So many people get the USB keypad to sit next to the card reader. That way, the person can just type in their PIN right there. I just think it would be simpler, and less pieces to pack into my laptop case if the pin pad and reader were a single device. They’re always about the same size. It just seems so obvious a pairing.
Here is an example of what I’m talking about. You can see in this picture, there is a small stand-alone keypad on the desk. It’s white and almost dead center of the photo. Right above that keypad is a separate CAC reader. I’m talking about combining these into a single peripheral since they are so often found in pairs like this. There is no need for two devices. They could be combined in the same way the keyboards I linked to above have integrated card readers.
Also if you use the PC keyboard for PIN input you become vulnerable to a keylogger that the PC may be infected with. For example in Germany where electronic signature for authentication vis-a-vis e-government sites is an option with ID cards (sadly most ID card holders do not use that function) the Federal Office for Information Security strongly recommends readers with keypad for that reason.
Not sure about the chip standard. I know it’s a 144K chip. Those POS terminals must do something extra, because they’re all pretty expensive. A regular USB CAC reader is around $15 bucks, and a pinpad is like $30 or less. So, I wouldn’t expect a combo peripheral to be more than $45. All of the chip readers with keypads used for point of sale, etc. that have been linked to are well over a hundred dollars on the low end.
Here’s some information on the chips used in the cards. [PDF!]
I don’t have any relevant knowledge, but what I do have is Google-Fu and I believe I found what you seek with the first result of the following search:
“cac” “smart card reader” “keypad”
The first result led to the home page where I selected the link for 2-factor readers.
