Chromebook owners can now connect their smart cards and smart card readers to Chrome OS, thanks to a new Chrome app.

‘Smart Card Connector’ by Google “provides access to Smart Card readers by exposing the PC/SC­Lite API to other Apps”. It means Chrome OS users can securely authenticate with apps from other companies, such as:

Charismathics Middleware Provider, which lets users access HTTPS based sites that require certificates stored on a smart cards.

Citrix Receiver, which lets users authenticate to access their virtualized environments, and additional provides smart card pass ­through into the virtualized session.

The Web Store description says a permission dialog is when third party apps try to connect to the Smart Card Connector.

“Granting these apps permission will provide these third parties access to your personal information such as the certificates on the smart card. It is recommended to grant permission only to third party apps you trust,” it cautions.

‘Smart Card Connector’ is a free download, available from the Chrome Web Store.

Smart Card Connector by Google on Chrome Web Store