A USB Smartcard Reader is a device used to read data from smartcards, which are physical cards embedded with a microchip. These smartcards are commonly used for security, identity verification, online banking, access control, and other purposes. The USB Smartcard Reader driver is a software package that allows your computer to communicate with the smartcard reader through the USB port. This driver is necessary for the operating system (Windows) to recognize and properly interface with the hardware.