SmartCard Authentication

SmartCard (Common Access Cards or Personal Identity Verification Cards) authentication is a secure way to authenticate unattended Robots, in addition to basic authentication credentials. A SmartCard has a unique PIN. Multiple users can be registered to a card, in which case all users have the same PIN. A user can also be registered to multiple cards, in which case multiple PINs are used for the same user.

Both virtual and physical cards can be used for authentication, as long as they are part of a single Active Directory domain. The corresponding user must belong to the same domain.

To enable SmartCard authentication, select Smart Card when configuring the credential type at the user level. This option is only available if the Features.SmartCardAuthentication.Enabled parameter is set to True.

Please note that the SmartCard needs to be inserted with every authentication. As long as the SmartCard is inserted, the associated Robot is available on the corresponding machine.

It is highly recommended to consult your company’s password policy before using the SmartCard authentication method. Credentials for a Robot which authenticates with a SmartCard may be stored in either the SQL Server or CyberArk. Find out more about storing Robot credentials in CyberArk here.