Typical smartcard response times

Hi all,

during experiments with Slovak eID cards it became apparent, that every single operation takes > 500 msec.

When the eID is not inserted in USB reader, everything works quite fast:

time pkcs11-tool --module /Library/OpenSC/lib/pkcs11-spy.so -L
Available slots:
Slot 0 (0x0): Gemalto PC Twin Reader
  (empty)

real	0m0.060s
user	0m0.007s
sys	0m0.009s

However, as soon as the eID is inserted, it changes significantly:

real	0m2.586s
user	0m0.053s
sys	0m0.046s

Spy library shows, that with inserted eID, every single operation (C_Initialize, C_GetSlotList, C_GetSlotInfo, C_GetTokenInfo) takes > 500 msec. The same happens with official drivers.

As a result, the whole procedure to e.g. pull a certificate from this eID takes about 7 seconds...

Is this expected behaviour? What are typical response times for other smartcards?


Thanks & kind regards,
MD