Common Access Card (CAC)

What is a Common Access Card?

CAC (Common Access Card), a "smart" card about the size of a credit card, is the standard identification for active-duty military personnel, Selected Reserve, DoD civilian employees and eligible contractor personnel. It’s also the principal card used to enable physical access to buildings and controlled spaces, and it provides access to defense computer networks and systems. All Common Access Cards have an embedded SSL certificate that allows a user secure access to systems and other controlled spaces.

Who needs/uses CAC?

Government employees, government contractors, and military personnel use their federal ID as their CAC to enter facilities and log in to computer networks.

Why did we add CAC to EFT Enterprise?

The U.S. Army expressed a need to have CAC authentication implemented in their managed file transfer solution. As the need spread across more bases and facilities, Globalscape added CAC authentication to EFT Enterprise. It’s a part of our commitment to provide top-notch data security to the federal system.

What is the benefit of using CAC with EFT Enterprise?

CAC allows for two-factor authentication which, in turn, results in a more secure login. Requiring a physical card for authentication makes it much more difficult to “spoof” someone’s account.