OpenPGP Card

[Alon Bar-Lev]

Peter wrote:

> Zeljko Vrba <zvrba at globalnet.hr> writes:

>> Yes, these devices are expensive for individuals. 

> Although they're less expensive on ebay :-).  Keep an eye on that long
enough and you'll find almost
> anything turning up, for example there's almost always some Spyrus Lynks
cards on sale by someone.
> Some of the stuff even has previous CA's keys still in the HW.

>> PKCS#11 is not limited to smart-cards.

> Yup, and that's an important point.  If you want big-iron style crypto HW
support, your choice is
> either PKCS #11, CryptoAPI, or a per-hardware-device custom API.  I know
which one I'd want...

I agree... So if we all understand the need of PKCS#11 in order to access
cryptographic tokens, what I don't understand is how come people choose to
develop low-level applications in order to work with specific devices?

Best Regards,
Alon Bar-Lev.