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User profile for user: brendanpc
brendanpc Author
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iPad CAC Smartcard Support

Is CAC support on the iPad or iPad2 possible?

I called up Apple support and the rep had no idea what I was talking about. He didn't really seem to care, either.

We'd like to support RDP access to servers on a government network, and require CAC authentication via a USB smartcard reader connected to the user's PC/Mac.

We are aware that there are RDP clients and VNC viewers for the iOS and those would work if we could pass CAC auth data to the remote connection. I have not been able to determine if this is possible without an application that would require Jailbreaking... which in and of itself raises security concerns. Jailbreaking would not be an acceptable alternative.

Any info is much appreciated!

Posted on Mar 3, 2011 9:39 AM

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User profile for user: mathetas
mathetas
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Mar 6, 2011 10:01 AM in response to brendanpc

This is a very interesting topic that has long since been ignored. The best site regarding anything related to Common Access Cards (CAC) on personal computers is www.militarycac.com. The site is one of the most professional and complete resources of its kind for anyone working in the government from a personal computer.

The biggest issues are how to pull the certificates from the CAC card onto an iOS in a manner that is deemed "secure". Right now, USB is the only viable way to do this with a CAC reader on a personal computer. Blackberry has the only wireless option with a Bluetooth CAC reader. To date, there is not Bluetooth CAC reader for the iOS. If there was, you would still have to write an app to process the certificates and make them available for a mail client or safari. Mac OS X has "Keychain Access", a utility that has a built in ability to do the work for you. PC's have to use middleware, such as Active Client. Long road to a small house, this has been discussed several times with no replies or serious takers on the Apple side. The government does have a contract with Blackberry utilizing CAC / PKI support; not sure if that has anything to do with the holdup for iOS support.

Also, a similar thread has been discussed on this site, see the following link:
http://discussions.info.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=12244323
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User profile for user: Cochiguaz
Cochiguaz
User level: Level 1
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Aug 1, 2011 12:46 PM in response to njgreen2001

BAi's offering a neat bluetooth based reader.


A reader on its own is only part of the puzzle.


It looks like a couple of vendors are in the early stages of delivering iPad and iPhone CAC and PIV software.


One is "Thursby Software", a long-time specialists in DoD and Government CAC and PIV card integration and the other is "Good Technology" (formerly the less snappily-named Visto Corporation) a corporate email company.

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User profile for user: Cochiguaz
Cochiguaz
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Oct 29, 2011 12:44 PM in response to Cochiguaz

You can see iPad/iPhone CAC/PIV solutions with BAI and Precise Biometrics here:

http://www.youtube.com/thursbysoftware


PKard for iOS is both hardware reader and middleware independent.


It's FIPS 140-2 and secure both in MDM/locked down environments and on BYO/personal devices where it can happily co-exist with Angry birds and listening to music, the very reasons many users have iPads and iPhones.

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iPad CAC Smartcard Support

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