Virtual Smartcard release notes & changelog


Introduction

Virtual Smartcard visualises the physical NHS smartcard into the cloud. This means users can  access their clinical workspace and applications  using a more convenient form of authentication iO like a smartphone, a HR issued card or a biometric.

This page details the latest updates and changes to Isosec's Virtual Smartcard service, including but not limited to any major additions, bug-fixes, functionality improvements and alterations and much more.

If you are looking for changes related to the iO Identity Agent, please visit the iO Changelog page 

Guides:

You can find all our Training & End-User Guides at our Support Hub.

Support

If you have any questions regarding the contents of this page or require any support, please contact support@isosec.co.uk


Changelog

Version 2.9 (4th September 2025)

Enhancements

    • Added Users Page to super-admins via Self-Service Portal
    • Back end enhancements
    • Security enhancements
    •     Support of TLS 1.3
    •     PHP uplift
    •     jQuery uplift
    •     Bootstrap uplift
    • Bug Fixes
    •     ReCAPTCHA on Self-Service Portal

    Version 2.8 (23rd May 2025)

    Enhancements

    • Back end enhancements
    • Security enhancements

    Version 2.7 (13th September 2024)

    Enhancements

    • Enhancements
    • Upgrade of server components
    • Minor UI/UX enhancements in vRA Manager and Self-Service portal
    • Added phone verification
    • Enhancements to Authenticator app registration options
    • Security enhancements
    • Bug fixes / hot fixes:
    • Fixed issued with sending out push notifications to users' Authenticator devices
    • Fixed issues with sending out emails to users

    Version 2.5 (16th October 2023)

    Enhancements

    • Added additional verification of the user using registered email during second factor enrolment on Self-Service portal
    • Upgraded the service to user the latest version of PHP (8.2)
    • Security patches and enhancements
    • Removal of fall-back method for Spine connections made by VSC service (mainly used for Spine tickets' validations)
    • Minor UI/UX enhancements


    Version 2.4.2 (22nd August 2023)

    Enhancements

    • Upgrade of server components
    • Added search in vRA Manager to allow easy filtering of users across trusts
    • Minor UI/UX enhancements in vRA Manager

    Fixes

    • Fixes to vRA Manager handling of issuing smartcards to users in different organisations

    Version 2.4.1 (16th June 2023)

    Please note that 2.4.1 was the first release of version 2.4

    Enhancements

    • Added functionality to support the resetting of locked passcodes via the authenticators. This will be made available in the next release of the authenticator applications
    • Added functionality to support the display of expiry dates within the authenticators. This will be made available in the next release of the authenticator applications
    • General security enhancements
    • Added functionality to allow users to be assigned to different organisations during user creation and issuance of virtual smartcards to users
    • Major performance enhancements to vRA manager and self-service portal

    Defect fixes

    • Several miscellaneous defects have been corrected

    Version 2.3.2 (28th March 2023)

    Enhancements

    • Major performance enhancement to issuance process
    • Security and performance enhancements
    • User experience enhancements on vRA Manager

    Fixes

    • Usability issue with issuance for V2 users fixed

    Version 2.3.1 (14th March 2023)

    Enhancements:

    • Database query performance enhancements
    • vRA Manager performance enhancements
    • vRA Manager UI/UX enhancements
    • Improvements to emails sent to end users

    Fixes

    • Corrected problem with Issuance of V1 Smartcards

    Version 2.3 (8th February 2023)

    Enhancements

    • Removal of EPS keys for V1 Smartcards (required for V1 card accreditation)
    • Security Updates
    • Addition of "Expiring Smartcards" page to vRA Manager
    • Added ability to change user names in vRA Manager
    • Automatic updating of user names based on Spine registered names
    • General UX enhancements
    • Database enhancements (precision and performance)

    Version 2.2.23 (July 2022) (26th August 2022)

    Additions:

    • VSC-1696 - Added User's UUID to the information shown for a user's virtual smartcard in the self-service portal
    • VSC-1726 - VRA Manager logs now refresh correctly when adding WA from the User Specific Page
    • VSC-1768 - Modified explanatory text on Self-Service page for when user's don't have access to the Authenticator
    • VSC-2554 - Alignment issues corrected for column headers in VRA Manager Windows Accounts tab
    • VSC-2557 - Delete option disabled for default roles in VRA Manager Settings section

    Version 2.2.22 (June 2022) (27th June 2022)

    Additions:

    • VSC-1680 - Updated the "Invitation to setup your virtual Smartcard V2" e-mail to make is clearer and add more guidance
    • VSC-1681 - Updated the "Invitation to setup your virtual Smartcard V1" e-mail to make is clearer and add more guidance
    • VSC 1682 - Updated the "Virtual Smartcard setup complete V2" email to make it clearer and add helpful links
    • VSC-1683 - Updated the "Virtual Smartcard Successfully enrolled V1" email to make it clearer and add helpful links
    • VSC-1707 - Added extra guidance to the "Need help?" sections of emails that are sent
    • VSC-3348 - Updated the "Reminder: enrol your Virtual Smartcard V1" e-mail to make it clearer and add more guidance
    • VSC-3349 - Updated the "Reminder: Set up your Virtual Smartcard V2" e-mail to make it clearer and add more guidance

    Version 2.2.21 (June 2022) (22nd June 2022)

    Additions

    • VSC-3307 - Corrected issue that caused occasional failure when deleting device associated with a user via vRA Manager
    • VSC-3337 - Extended vRA Manager to display application client version, platform type and platform version

    Version 2.2.17 (1st March 2022)

    Additions

    • VSC-1708 - Implemented API that performs validation of scanned QR codes for authentication purposes

    Version 2.2.16 (16th February 2022)

    Bugs fixed

    • VSC-1706 - Fixed issues with RAs and end-users not being able to delete 'MIA' devices from the user's registered device list via vRA Manager and Self-Service Portal 

    Version 2.2.14 (24th January 2022)

    Changes:

    VSC-1690: Add passcode locked state flag for Authenticator to handle it

    VSC-1685: Internal messaging moved to MS Teams

    Bugs fixed

    VSC-1689: Delete device status is not updating when Application is launched
    VSC-1686 - Fixed an issue where users weren't able to reset the Authenticator PIN via vRA manager
    VSC-1687 - Fixed issues with Authenticator client picking multiple RA PIN reset tokens in a row

    Version 2.2.12 (15th December 2021)

    • Improvements made to Isosec's internal Spine service for ticket validation, certificates & user identity
    • Internal V2 Spine made available for vSC images
    • Refinements made to vSC Health Check Service and Enrolment Reminder emails

    Version 2.2.11 (1st December 2021)

    • Resolved bug where users were unable to resend the self-verification email via the Self-Service Portal

    Version 2.2.9 (19th November 2021)

    • Fix applied to incorrect card type being displayed on "Pending User" page
    • Improved email and phone number data validation
    • New API endpoints & specifications added for future functionality
    • CVE-2021-28831 security fix applied
    • UI/UX improvements 
    • Various minor small bug fixes.

    Version 2.2.8 (8th November 2021)

    • UI/UX and workflow improvements for the vRA Manager and Self-Service Portal
    • Improved error messages for CSV import and file validation
    • CSV sample data recreated due to invalid domain data included
    • OpenAPI specification and new end-points created for future functionality.
    • Improvements to internal tooling to manage customer configuration

    Version 2.2.7 (27th September 2021)

    • Security fixes and improvements
    • UI/UX fixes and improvements
    • Additional support/functionality added to migrate legacy organisations
    • API improvements and new functionality added

    Version VSC 2.2.2 (22nd July 2021)

    • Code restructuring across the Virtual Smartcard service including iO, Authenticator, and MIA.

    Version 2.1 (1st June 2021)

    • Added support for issuing Series 8 cards (iO 9.1 and higher)
    • Improved and optimised logic for VSC issuance
    • Fixed issues with not being able to restart Virtual Smartcard issuance via the vRA Manager once initiated.
    • Fixed key creation issue during Virtual Smartcard issuance in CIS, no errors are now presented to users.
    • Fixed issues with not being able to issue VSC to the user with very long names (longer than 50 characters)
    • Several other minor fixes and improvements related to the VSC issuance process
    • Re-designed user-facing emails for enrolment, passcode reset, and more.
    • Fixed issue where vRA Manager sometimes incorrectly reports an incompatible Authenticator client 

    Version VSC 2.0.0 (4th March 2021)

    • Added support for AdES (Advanced Electronic Signature) Virtual Smartcards (V2)
    • All newly issued V2 cards will begin with serial 150 for easier identification in reports
    • Minor UI changes to support AdES Virtual Smartcard issuance & reporting in vRA Manager & user management in the Self-Service Portal
    • A number of fixes/improvements related to Smartcard issuance and enrolment


    Version 1.5.5 (30th November 2020)

    • Removed ability to use special characters in VSC passcodes

    Version 1.5.3 (29th October 2020)

    • Bug fix applied for pending User AD accounts not being removed when the user has been deleted.
    • Error messaging changed for failed enrolments providing clearer instructions for users.
    • Various backend changes and bug fixes

    Version 1.5.2 (14th October 2020)

    • Self-Enrolment email token validity period has now been extended to 14 days
    • Fixed an issue with email links presenting http and not https, preventing some users from enrolling until manually adjusted.
    • Fix implemented for expired enrolment status in vRA Manager
    • Improvements made to the "Pending User" export to include more information
    • Workflow changes introduced for enrolment and Virtual Smartcard passcode resets to be more user friendly. 

    Version 1.5.1 (8th October 2020)

    • Various back end fixes and security improvements
    • Improved authentication logging
    • Fixed the issues with not correctly logging the successful authentication with QR codes
    • Fixed the issues with not sending password reset emails for certain scenarios when users locked their virtual smartcards.


    Version 1.5.0 (30th September 2020)

    Self Service Portal & vRA Manager

    • RAs will no longer specify a phone number during enrolment
    • Users will no longer be required to verify access to a phone number during self-enrolment
    • When logging into the Self-Service Portal, a user must now verify a second factor, or enrol one during login
    • Users will now be given the option to use the Isosec Authenticator or SMS when logging into the Self-Service Portal
    • Users will now be required to verify access to their second factor when resetting their VSC passcode (if they have a second factor configured)
    • RAs can now specify an AD account during enrolment, which will become active once the user's enrolment completes

    Version 1.4.14 (16th September 2020)

    • Isosec Authenticator fixes and improvements
    • Backend end security changes

    Version 1.4.13 (8th September 2020)

    • Server side MIA fixes for Generic mode
    • VSC Service Health checks are in action

    Version 1.4.10 (10th July 2020)

    VSC Service 

    • Fixed an issue with submitting feedback from the VRA Manager
    • A number of internal fixes and improvements.
    • Fixed a bug where a white space in phone numbers could cause issues with users receiving SMS. (VSC-915)

    Version 1.4.9 (6th July 2020)

    Infrastructure

    • Internal changes made to build processes and removal of library files.

    Version 1.4.8 (1st July 2020)

    Security Updates

    • Security updates and changes made across the Virtual Smartcard Service & AWS infrastructure.


    Version 1.4.7 (18th June 2020)

    vRA Manager

    • Added "AD accounts" and "Devices" view into the Enrolled User view on the vRA Manager - This will enable Registration Authorities to check who has finished their enrolment and can update the necessary accounts.
    • Added ability to search for anything inside of the user's full name string ("<FORENAME> <SURNAME> (<SUBJECTCN>)") within the vRA Manager.
    • Added ability to sort by any field on user listing pages

    Version 1.4.6 (15th June 2020)

    vRA Manager

    • Moved allowed email domain checking for VSCs to be DB driven
    • Internal Self-Service Portal changes to allow Support to handle additional email domain requests
    • Whitelisted additional email domains at Trust request

    Version 1.0.13 (8th January 2019)

    Virtual Smartcard

    Additions

    iO

    • Added message boxes and better indicators for RAs to see better what issues there are on misconfigured RA machines for vSC issuance

    • Made sure that vRA Manager and VSC service is backwards compatible with older versions of iO identity agents

    • Added a pop up message for the vSC issuance to be displayed when the vSC service is not available

    • Added new authentication method with vSC using push notification only (password-less authentication)

    vRA

    • Added ability to change a user's email address

    • Added ability to use apostrophes in the first half of email addresses

    • Added logging for email address updates

    • Added a log message for when user profile data folder fails to be retrieved

    • Added lockout from accounts after repeatedly failing to login to the self-service portal

    • Starred out security answers during entry on: VRA enrolment, Self-service password reset, self-service enrolment, self-service update security questions

    Issuance Components

    • Added new authentication method with vSC using push notification only (password-less authentication)

    • Added a new configuration item that can be controlled as a policy maker for allowing authentication with push notifications only or not

    • Added functionality that enable building the reader driver for windows 7 and windows 10, 32bit and 64 bit for both platforms

    • Added some more logs and more granularity / information to the existing logs

    • Added functionality that enables fetching number of successful spine authentications per given vSC and prompt the user for NPS feedback if enabled

    • Added a readme file to cover requirements for connecting a vSC on the machine

    • Added a pop up message for the vSC issuance to be displayed when the vSC service is not available

    Fixes

    • Fixed issue where an RA manager couldn't edit a user's email twice without refreshing the page

    • Fixed issue with verification of emails containing apostrophes not working

    • Fixed issue with empty windows account lists not showing a message

    • Generalised response for login and forgotten password submissions when entering an incorrect email / password

    • Fixed the issue with older versions of iO if pushNotification authentication was enabled server side, causing that old iO was receiving a status code that wasn't recognised and therefore forced iO to fall back to QR code / email authentication with vSC

    • Added config item to determine aforementioned delay

    • Removed "last active" from user list due to performance issues


    Number of internal fixes and changes