--- title: Smart cards login on Ubuntu description: This whitepaper will provide information on how to configure Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to operate with a smart card to provide multi-factor authentication when logging into the system both locally and remotely. url: https://canonical.com/blog/smart-cards-login-on-ubuntu?format=md --- 1. [Blog](https://canonical.com/blog) 2. Article --- [Alex Cattle](https://canonical.com/blog/author/cattleaej "More about Alex Cattle") 29 March 2020 # Smart cards login on Ubuntu [Security](https://canonical.com/blog/tag/security) --- Share the article Smart cards have proliferated and are now everywhere, from work ID badges to credit cards and passports. For example, the United States Federal Government uses smart cards to control access to federal facilities and information systems because they offer an extra layer of security and respond to strict government guidelines. If used in a company, these will provide identity confirmation, verification that data has not been changed, and confidentiality via encryption. This whitepaper will provide information on how to configure Ubuntu 18.04 LTS to operate with a smart card to provide multi-factor authentication when logging into the system both locally and remotely. For the purposes of this whitepaper, a PIVKey smart card is used as an example since they are readily accessible and contain a few basic credentials. [Read our documentation](https://ubuntu.com/server/docs/security-smart-cards) or download the whitepaper to learn more including: * The software and hardware prerequisites needed for smart card configuration. * How to set up your smart card and configure it to support smart card logins. * How to configure SSH smart card login. Download the whitepaper by filling in the form below: [Get in touch Interested in running Ubuntu in your organization?](https://ubuntu.com/about/contact-us/form) ## Sign up for our newsletter Get the latest Canonical news and updates in your inbox. Work email: \*I agree to receive information about Canonical's products and services. By submitting this form, I confirm that I have read and agree to [Canonical's Privacy Policy](https://canonical.com/legal/dataprivacy). Sign up ## Share on --- ## Related posts [### Canonical joins the Open Secure AI Alliance](https://canonical.com/blog/open-secure-ai-alliance) Canonical is now part of the Open Secure AI Alliance, announced by NVIDIA with partners across cloud computing, cybersecurity, enterprise software, open source foundations, and... [Canonical](https://canonical.com/blog/author/canonical) 28 August 2026 [### Januscape vulnerability CVE-2026-53359 mitigations available](https://canonical.com/blog/januscape-linux-vulnerability-mitigations-available) Introduction A local privilege escalation (LPE) vulnerability affecting the Linux kernel was publicly disclosed on July 6, 2026. The vulnerability was assigned CVE ID... [seth-arnold](https://canonical.com/blog/author/seth-arnold) 11 July 2026 [### DirtyClone Linux kernel local privilege escalation vulnerability fixes available](https://canonical.com/blog/dirtyclone-linux-vulnerability-fixes-available) On June 25, 2026, JFrog published their research into CVE-2026-43503, referring to the vulnerability as DirtyClone. The vulnerability had previously been responsibly disclosed... [Luci Stanescu](https://canonical.com/blog/author/lucistanescu) 1 July 2026 [### pedit COW kernel local privilege escalation vulnerability mitigations](https://canonical.com/blog/pedit-cow-linux-vulnerability-fixes-available) Mitigations are available for the Linux vulnerability with CVE ID CVE-2026-46331. The CVE ID was assigned on June 16 2026 and highlighted as a local privilege escalation (LPE)... [Luci Stanescu](https://canonical.com/blog/author/lucistanescu) 1 July 2026