Windows® 7 and Windows Server® 2008 R2 Smart Card MiniDriver

On May 14th 2009, only two weeks after Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 released candidates became publicly available, SCsquare Ltd. has completed its new MiniDriver certification for Apollo OS Smart Cards.

An updated released on August 18th 2009, added certification of the new MiniDriver to every Windows OS since XP to current, workstations and servers.

Microsoft Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL) Certification Report (updated)

The availability of the new MiniDriver is a result of a close cooperation between Microsoft and SCsquare under the Microsoft “Logo Ready” program.

The new MiniDriver, which is publicly and freely available via Windows Update, is automatically installed to any Windows® 7 and Windows Server® 2008 R2 machines upon the insertion of an Apollo OS Smart Card into any PC/SC compliant smart card reader.

Apollo OS Smart Card is the first high security, multi-application cryptographic smart card in the world to achieve the “Compatible with Windows 7” and “Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2” logos from Microsoft.

The new smart card Mini Driver complies with Microsoft’s MiniDriver version 7 specifications for plug-and-play operation in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 and complies with Microsoft’s MiniDriver version 6 and version 5 specifications for backward compatibility:

The following video shows the new plug-and-play functionality of the new MiniDriver:

Apollo OS smart card implement a large variety of advanced technologies including  on-card asymmetric key generation, RSA and Elliptic Curve cryptography, digital signature, dual-interface (contact and contactless) communication and biometrics to name a few*.

For any additional information, please feel free to contact us.

Middleware

For a smooth integration of Apollo OS smart cards, Contact, Contactless or Dual-Interface with IT systems, a standard middleware is required.

SCsquare offers its client a selection of the following solutions:

• CSP (cryptographic service provider)
• PKCS#11
• Smart Card MiniDriver

CSP (Cryptographic Service Provider) is a smart card interface DLL, digitally signed by Microsoft and supported since Windows 2000. CSP is currently phased out in favor of the new Smart Card MiniDriver.

PKCS#11 (Public Key Cryptography Standard #11) is the common alternative to CSP, and is used for integration of smart cards with application that does not support CSP such as FireFox, ThunderBird, Novell, etc.

Smart Card MiniDriver is an improved and enhanced solution for integration of smart card with Microsoft Windows Environments. SCsquare MiniDriver for Apollo OS has been tested and certified by Microsoft WHQL (Windows Hardware Quality Lab). Read more here

Users who are interested in testing and evaluation our middleware are invited to send an email to: marketing@scsquare.com

For generic private and open source middleware, Apollo OS is available with a PKCS#15 profile.