18 May 2005

Hampshire police smart with cards

Sarah Hilley

Police officers at the UK Hampshire Constabulary have been carrying smart-cards to log on to their computers and gain entry to their office buildings since early this year.

The Force has opted for two-factor employee authentication from ActivCard, combining smartcard and PIN, to ensure security of criminal records and protection of investigations.

Paul Harding, Information Security Officer at Hampshire Constabulary said the smartcard implementation helps increase officer productivity and compliance with security standards.

The introduction of cards for 6000 officers and staff means the Force can comply with national police guidelines, such as the Unified Police Security Architecture.

The system, which went live in January, took six months to deploy, said Marc Hudavert, vice president and general Manager of ActivCard Europe.

It allows officers to access the network without having to remember and enter passwords. They don’t escape entirely, though, as they do have to remember a PIN number.

The card stores their name and employee number. It also contains credential information including digital certificates and static passwords. It does not hold biometric data, however.

Officers will use the card to authenticate themselves in many situations. These include remote access, secure logon to Windows, Single-Sign-On to the network, physical access and permitted application use.

To help administer the process, Hampshire Constabulary also bought a management system from ActivCard, which enables the enrolment and issuance of cards. This links into the existing in-house directory – the central repository of all employee details.

"The cost per user including software and hardware is about €90 per user,” said Hudavert.

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