Smartcard Tips and Information
- CardReader/PinpadInput
- CardReader/GemaltoPC
- https://wiki.debian.org/GnuPG/CCID_Driver
- http://www.g10code.com/p-card.html
- http://www.gnupg.org/howtos/card-howto/en/smartcard-howto.html
- OpenPGPcardECC
Smartcards?
GnuPG supports the use of hardware security tokens that come as smartcards. The smartcards are little computers that can hold the secret key material and perform crypto operations. Because you need to connect the physical "token" to your machine, the secret key material is well protected against attacks that try to steal it.
Smartcards have to be compatible with GnuP. Cards exists to either run OpenPGP or x509/CMS operations.
In order to try this, see the how-to-links above, you may need to akquire a smartcard and a reader or an integrated combination of both.