Thursby Software Systems (http://www.thursby.com) has released PKard for Mac, software to meet the needs of US Department of Defense (DoD) Mac users for remote or home access to secure government websites using Common Access Cards (CAC) smart cards.

Smart cards are a defensive line for the DoD and Civilian Federal agencies against terrorist attacks, espionage and cyber threats mandated by Homeland Security Presidential Directive 12, or HSPD-12. PKard is short for “Public Key Card” and is pronounced “P card."

PKard supports Mac OS X 10.5 and 10.5. All US Government CAC smart cards are supported via Thursby’s own Tokend driver technology for access, including next generation cards such as the “Oberthur ID One 128 v5.5” and “Gemalto TOP DL GX4 144K.”

PKard is a simpler home/remote version of Thursby’s enterprise ADmitMac PKI (Public Key Infrastructure) line of software that secures directly connected Macs in bases and offices of the US Army and many branches of the US Federal Government.  Advanced features of ADmitMac PKI include support for commercial grade Microsoft SMB/CIFS, DFS, Active Directory, Group Policies, Mac Workgroup Manager, SSO/single sign-on, network home folders, all US Government CAC and PIV cards, OCSP and VPN that are not required for home/remote web access.

For the home or remote Mac user, all that is required are:

° PKard one-time installation taking less than a minute, with specific choices for the U.S Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, DoD and Navy;

° A valid CAC smart card;

° CAC smart card reader with current firmware;

° Internet access via Apple’s Safari browser;

° And US$29.95 via Thursby's online store.