Hello Pragma Systems,

I just downloaded the latest revision (#993)  Pragma FortressSSH server and FortressSSH Client Suite software from your web site. When I launched FortressCL to make a ssh connection, I saw the CACS/Smart Card option in the FortressCL Site Manager tree. How do I use this feature  i.e. use a smart card with Pragma FortressCL to make ssh connection to a server?

Thank you.

Hello Anonymous123,

Thank you for posting your question on Pragma FortressCL CACS/Smart Card support.

In addition to supporting password, Public key / Certificate and GSSAPI authentication methods, Pragma FortressCL now also supports smart card / PKCS authentication.  FortressCL’s  smart card support meets US Department of Defense (DOD) and CACS standards as well as standards from Microsoft environment.

Support of this new FortressCL feature on Windows XP and 2003 machines require installation of smart card libraries, which are supplied by the smart card vendors. All smart card vendors are required to implement provider libraries for their cards that act as an interface between Microsoft Windows smart card support features and the smart card hardware layer.

Once a smart card containing x.509 certificates is inserted in the card reader, the certificates therein are automatically made available in the certificate store of that machine. So a FortressCL user can use these certificates for x.509 validation via FortressCL authentication tab.
 
Once Public Key/Certification authentication method is selected, the user can further specify usage of a certificate private key file or ax x.509 certificate file (.pfx file). Alternatively, the user can choose x.509 certificates, either from smart cards, or from any other CA sources.

For more details on this topic, please visit our FAQ page by clicking on the link below and scrolling to the bottom of the page:

http://www.pragmasys.com/PragmaFortressSSH_FAQ.asp#idealfeatures
 

Thank you,

Technical Support Group (TSG)
Pragma Systems, Inc.

Pragma Systems Technical Support
13809 Research Blvd, #675
Austin, TX 78750
http://www.pragmasys.com