Smart Cards for Remote Authentication

During a support session using the representative console, a support representative may need to operate with administrative rights in order to effectively troubleshoot the remote computer. Within environments where security implementations require smart card use for authentication, Remote Support enables the representative to share a local smart card within a support session so that it can be used as an authentication source on the customer system.

To achieve this, the representative's system must have a Virtual Smart Card Representative driver installed and the customer's system must have a Virtual Smart Card Customer driver installed. The Virtual Smart Card Customer driver can either be pre-installed on the customer system or pushed to the customer system during the Jump process. For the latter, the Virtual Smart Card Customer is uninstalled when the session ends. If the Jump Client is installed, the Virtual Smart Card Customer remains installed until the Jump Client is uninstalled.

This feature is not supported for ARM-based Windows systems.

Only the Desktop Representative Console supports sharing a smart card into a support session. The Web Rep Console does not support smart cards.

For more information about specific smart cards supported and supported smart card standards, please Contact Support.

Prerequisites

To use BeyondTrust smart card support through a Jump Client, the following prerequisites must be met:

  • The representative's computer has the appropriate Remote Support Virtual Smart Card Representative installed.
  • Each supported computer has the appropriate Remote Support Virtual Smart Card Customer installed.
  • Each supported computer is running Windows 7 or newer.
  • Each supported computer must be accessible by a Remote Support Jump Client running in elevated mode.

When Jump To is used to access the remote system, the Virtual Smart Card Customer driver does NOT have to be pre-installed.

Remote Support smart card support can be used with customer-initiated sessions when the following prerequisites are met:

  • The representative's computer has the appropriate Remote Support Virtual Smart Card Representative installed.
  • Each supported computer has the appropriate Remote Support Virtual Smart Card Customer installed.
  • Each supported computer is running Windows 7 or newer.