To get started you will need:
- CAC (see note below)
- Card reader
You can get started using your CAC on your Mac OS X system by following these basic steps:
- Get a card reader
Typically Macs do not come with card readers and therefore an external card reader is necessary. At this time, the best advice for obtaining a card reader is through working with your home component. In addition, please review the DoD CAC Reader Specifications for more information regarding card reader requirements.
- Download and install the OS X Smartcard Services package
The OS X Smartcard Services Package allows a Mac to read and communicate with a smart card. In order for your machine to recognize your CAC certificates and DoD websites as trusted, the installer will load the DoD CA certificates on OS X. Please refer to this page for specific installation instructions.
- Address the cross-certificate chaining Issue
These instructions walk through adjusting the trust settings on the Interoperability Root CA (IRCA) > DoD Root CA 2 and the US DoD CCEB IRCA 1 > DoD Root CA 2 certificates to prevent cross-certificate chaining issues. This can make it appear that your certificates are issued by roots other than the DoD Root CA 2 and can prevent access to DoD websites.
- Configure Chrome and Safari, if necessary
Safari and Google Chrome rely on Keychain Access properly recognizing your CAC certificates.
a) In Finder, navigate to Go > Utilities and launch KeychainAccess.app
b) Verify that your CAC certificates are recognized and displayed in Keychain Access
Note: CACs are currently made of different kinds of card stock. To determine what card stock you have, look at the back of your CAC above the magnetic strip. Most CACs are supported by the Smartcard Services package, however Oberthur ID One 128 v5.5 CACs are not. Third party middleware is available that will support these CACS; two such options are Thursby Software’s PKard and Centrify’s Express for Smart Card.
Next Steps
Your internet browser is now configured to access DoD websites using the certificates on your CAC. Now that your machine is properly configured, please visit our End Users page for more information on using the PKI certificates on your CAC.