Amulet Hotkey K4u+ - Smart Card Support

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Amulet Hotkey K4u
+
Manual
7. 5
Support for smart cards
The
K4u
+
supports smart cards, including stand-alone readers
and readers built into a USB keyboard. This allows a user to
securely log on to all PCs connected to the K4u
+
using a single
smart card.
The
K4u
+
can accept a USB smart card reader on any hosted
front panel USB port (A to D); see
section 2. 1
for port details.
Note:
The K4u
+
does not support multiple card readers
concurrently attached to a single unit.
7.5.1
Switching the smart card focus to a different PC
The K4u
+
automatically switches the smart card focus to the
current PC (that is, the PC with keyboard and mouse focus)
only
when the current PC requests access to the smart card
.
The smart card focus does not immediately follow the keyboard
and mouse focus to the current PC. If the PC with keyboard and
mouse focus does not request access to the smart card, the
smart focus remains on the previous channel. The K4u
+
therefore allows the previous channel continued access to the
smart card.
When the current PC requests access to the smart card, the
K4u
+
pauses before switching the smart card focus. Specifically,
it waits until no smart card activity has been detected on the
previous channel for three seconds. This delay allows any smart
card activity on the previous channel to complete before the
focus is switched and the smart card is reset.
Example A: Smart card focus switches to different PC
The PC attached to channel 1 has keyboard and mouse focus
and
smart card focus. The user then switches to the
computer attached to channel 2. Initially, the smart card
focus remains on channel 1. Some minutes later, the user
attempts to authenticate and send an email from the
channel 2 computer. Channel 2 therefore requests access to
the smart card. If the K4u
+
detects no further mouse and
keyboard activity on channel 1, it switches the smart card
focus to channel 2.
Example B: Smart card focus does not switch
The PC attached to channel 1 has keyboard and mouse focus
and
smart card focus. The user then switches to the channel
2 computer. As in example A, the smart card focus remains
on channel 1. This time, however, none of the user’s activity
on channel 2 requires authentication and so channel 2 never
requests access to the smart card. Instead, channel 1 keeps
the smart card focus, allowing it to run background
authentication tasks (such as periodically validating access
to a secure web site).
7.5.2 Security
Note the following:
■ A user must log into each attached PC individually ie, they
must switch to each PC in turn and enter their PIN. The K4u
+
does not log the user into all attached PCs automatically.
■ When the smart card focus switches to a different PC, the
K4u
+
resets the smart card. Other PCs attached to the K4u
+
can no longer access smart card-controlled resources.
■ The K4u
+
immediately locks all computers on smart
card-enabled USB channels when the card is removed (if the
computers are configured to do so).
■ To unlock a computer, a user can press the hot keys + C to
emulate removing and re-inserting a smart card.
This frees the user from needing to remove and re-insert the
physical card. (It also eliminates the need to lock all PCs - by
removing the smart card - simply to unlock a single PC.)
For hot key details, see section 4.
7.5.3 Keyboard support
The K4u
+
correctly operates with:
■ Dell SK-3205 USB keyboard with inbuilt card reader
■ Gemalto PC USB-TR standalone card reader
Other card readers are also supported. A full list is available on
request.
Note: The K4u
+
does not support HP KUS0133 USB keyboards
with integral card reader with a spares part number ending
in -032.