Smartcard Hints and Information
- Generating and loading subkeys from an offline computer (specifically, for the YubiKey NEO, but recipe can be easily adapted for any smartcard)
- 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 minicomputers 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 GnuPG. Cards exist to either run OpenPGP or x509/CMS operations.
In order to try this, see the howto links above, you may need to acquire a smartcard and a reader or an integrated combination of both.