Magnetic card is a piece of non-conductive material with an additional piece of magnetic recording material attached to it. The specific standards indicate that the card must measure 85.60 mm wide by 53.98 mm high with a thickness of .76mm. The magnetic strip on the backside of the card covers the full width of the card. The exact height and placement of the magnetic strip are not as important as that of the three data tracks within the strip. Each of the three tracks in the strip must measure between 2.80 mm and 3.81 mm high. A user inserts his magnetic card into the reader and enters a personal access number. When the access number and magnetic card have been verified to be a valid matching pair, the user is authenticated and may access the system. The validation process occurs in four stages such as information input, encryption, comparison and logging. The process begins when a user enters both a card and access number. Depending on the authentication system either an encrypted copy of the password resides on the card or is obtained from the system by information on the card. In either case, an encrypted password is obtained for comparison.