Security Measures for Customers

The Personal Certificate Client (PCC) provides a high level of protection against known security threats by leveraging various technologies (see Authenticating Servers).

It is nonetheless essential that customers also take certain measures to protect their workstations.

Specifically, we recommend that customers take the following security measures in their environments:

• Use a firewall to block external traffic on the ports used by the PCC (that is, on ports 26666, 31222, 32444, 44555, 47777, 48888).
• Disable any PIN caches available on the middleware of a Smart Card reader or hardware token.
• Instruct users to unplug their Smart Card or hardware token when they are not in use.
• Instruct users to maintain an appropriate level of security on their client machines (e.g., maintaining an up-to-date system, using a firewall).
• Train users to recognize phishing attempts.
• Implement a program that enables users to report phishing attacks.