Home | CAC For Mac

What Is a Smart Card?

A smart card is a physical device—like a chip card or USB key—with a secure microchip used for login, authentication, and encryption. macOS refers to these as “Smart Cards” and supports them for secure login and access control.

Common Types

CAC (Common Access Card): Issued by the U.S. Department of Defense or Government Agencies for secure identification and access.

YubiKey (PIV Mode): A hardware token that emulates a smart card, widely used for secure login and two-factor authentication.

ICC/IC Cards: Standard smart cards used in various industries for secure access and identity verification.

Are you a DoD employee that needs DoD Certificates fast?

If you're a government employee or contractor, you can quickly install the latest DoD Certificate Authority (CA) certificates by running the command below in your terminal.

sudo bash -c "$(curl -s https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cocopuff2u/MacOS_GOV_Scripts/main/Keychain_And_Certificates_Scripts/Import_DoD_Certs.sh)"

*Always review scripts before running them. You can inspect this one here.

User Guides

These guides are designed to help users quickly set up their certificates & smart card (CAC, PIV, or similar) on their personal macOS.
General Cert Guide | DoD Cert Guide | Certificate Tools & Apps
General Smart Card Guide | DoD CAC Guide | Smart Card Tools & Apps

Step 1

Download the latest certificate authority files from your organization's official source to ensure your Mac can trust secure resources.

Step 2

Connect your smart card reader to your Mac and insert your card. Confirm that your Mac recognizes the reader and card before proceeding.

Step 3

Access a smart card-protected website or application to verify that your setup is working and you have the required access.

Admin Guides

These guides are designed to help administrators quickly deploy certificates & smart card (CAC, PIV, or similar) support for their users.
General Cert Guide | DoD Cert Guide | Certificate Tools & Apps
General Smart Card Guide | DoD CAC Guide | Smart Card Tools & Apps

Step 1

Distribute the latest certificate authority files to all managed devices using your preferred deployment or device management solution.

Step 2

Ensure smart card readers are properly connected and recognized by macOS, and verify that user accounts are configured for smart card authentication as needed.

Step 3

Have users test access to a smart card-protected resource to confirm successful deployment and functionality across devices.