Smart Card Connectors Protect Consumers
By Jean-Michel Bourin, Business Development Director, C&K Components, Smart Card Connectors

E-commerce and other digital point-of-sale (PoS) services have undoubtedly improved the customer experience. The convenience, low prices, instant pay options, and the ability to communicate with customer service or compare notes with other consumers — all without leaving the couch — are remarkable in so many ways. However, despite the benefits, this technology also comes with inherent security risks. As more and more of the world’s most sensitive and critical information is converted from analog to digital formats, the importance of security measures has never been greater.

For example, most consumers now do at least some of their banking online. Paying bills and checking balances online would have been not only impossible 20 years ago, but also extremely disconcerting, as we had not yet reached a point at which we trusted websites to keep our information secure. Now that more than 60% of Internet users bank online (as opposed to 12% in 1998), maintaining consumer security confidence is more important than ever in banking and in other industries.

When security breaches do occur, they not only cause a loss in revenue, but also a loss of customer faith, which no company can afford to lose in this economy. As piracy and identity theft are committed more frequently, smart card connectors have been employed to enhance security for businesses and consumers. Features of today’s smart card connectors include high reliability, compactness, and piracy protection in numerous applications, including banking, metering/vending, and most importantly, PoS applications. These connectors are surface mountable to be compatible with pick-and-place assembly equipment and comply with communication protocol requirements.

Better Protection By Design
PoS terminal manufacturers and connector manufacturers frequently work together to develop solutions that improve security in PoS devices. Using a standard connector mounted on the PC board and implementing an anti-piracy system in the terminal are good examples of solutions these partnerships have created. While a standard connector may seem an attractive option in terms of price, one must consider the additional implementation time and increased cost and size of the final product. A cost-effective alternative is to simply add increased security within the entry connector’s terminal tracks, creating a more effective approach to privacy prevention.

The design, development, and performance of smart card connectors play a crucial part in preventing piracy in point-of-sale applications. The connectors, integrated within anti-piracy systems, enable end-users to address concerns of identity theft, and allow the equipment manufacturer to provide enhanced security by specifying a customized connector for the specific application. These enhancements include sealing and protections against the probes of identity thieves.

The use of multiple interconnected layers around the connector can detect and prevent many types of intrusion. The detection module protecting the contacts also adds to this primary layer of protection, preventing any attempt to probe the device.

To meet reliability and security demands, most smart card connectors, like the C&K Components’ CCM02 smart card connectors pictured below, comply with the VISA PCI PED requirements. This additional protection prevents hackers from inserting a bug on the connector and extracting the PIN details. The surface mount connectors are RoHS-compliant and designed for 100,000 and 500,000 card insertion cycles. Additional space is available under the connector to place other SMT components.

Consistency and Reliability
Reliability is particularly important when manufacturers are searching for connectors that feature piracy protection and enhanced lifecycles. Many applications require the connector to be capable of long-term use while simultaneously protecting against hackers. The standard sliding connector is constructed so that the credit card slides over the contacts when it is inserted and retrieved. A common device like this can last approximately 100,000 cycles.

Landing systems enable about 500,000 cycles. The contact rises and touches the card only when it is inserted, allowing for the longer life span. New designs and experimentation with different materials have led to sliding connectors that can reach 500,000 cycles. These unique connector capabilities ensure a secure contact to smart card readers for reliable and safe data transmission.

Ease of Use
A compact, surface-mount connector design is essential to providing the level of security and functionality required by PoS terminal manufacturers to increase protection against piracy. Manufacturers and customers who employ SMT assembly lines require smart card connectors to be pick-and-place assembly compatible and surface-mountable in order to ensure their affordable integration. These devices also must feature reduced size for space constraints in certain applications. Smart card connectors are growing in popularity in PoS terminals, and therefore must be compact enough to meet space requirements for both wireless and wired applications. A compact design is also more stable during mounting, and creates an air gap between the contacts and card entry slot, reducing electrostatic transfer to the PC board.

In a world full of potential security threats, taking a few smart precautions is vital to successfully protecting the integrity of PoS applications. Smart card connectors are able to provide the added security of PoS applications against identity theft, computer piracy, and computer viruses that are becoming more and more sophisticated. In order to maintain customer faith in data security and avoid publicity nightmares, it is necessary to consider all possible variables, including limiting the components that are introduced to the devices.
 

Bishop & Associates Inc. © 2011