1. A smart-card looks like a credit-card but contains an embedded microprocessor. The gold contact pad with roughly 8 contact points is visible on the outside of the card. As of the year 2000, typical circuits consisted of an 8-bit microprocessor running at 5MHz, 1K of RAM, and 16K of ROM with a 9.6-kbps half-duplex interface. (Much of the design of AES focused on being able to run within these stringent requirements). Key point: Whereas the data on the magnetic strip of a credit-card can be easily read or changed, smart-cards are designed to be tamper proof. Example: All Germans have a smart-card for health insurance. As of 2001, smart-cards have been popular in Europe for about a decade, but are still mostly unknown in the United States. Example: The tamper-proof features make it popular for authentication in both physical security and infosec uses. From Hacking-Lexicon