|
What is Mifare? Mifare is a 13.56 MHz contactless technology owned by Philips. It complies with ISO14443A - the industry standard for contactless smart cards. Mifare cards are powered by an internal antenna as the card moves into a magnetic field. Mifare has proven popular as the card to use in ticketing and low value transactions. What are the physical characteristics of a Mifare card? - operating frequency: 13.56 MHz.
- read range: from about 0cm up to 10 cm.
- card size: approx. 85.7mm x 54.0mm x 0.8mm.
- data capacity: a standard 1K Mifare card has 16 sectors each with 4 blocks of data that are 16 bytes. Other capacities are available.
How secure is the data on a Mifare card? - the radio transmission between the Mifare chip and the reader is encrypted.
- each sector can have its own 48 bit keys for read and write access, this allows multiple applications from different vendors to operate on the same card.
- access to data from each sector is protected with a 48 bit key.
- the actual data stored on the card can be either encrypted or not encrypted.
- each sector can be read only.
What are the benefits of a Mifare card? advantages: - the card can be used for multiple applications.
- secure encryption prevents unauthorised access to information stored on the card. This makes it extremely difficult to copy a Mifare card.
- being contactless, there is reduced maintenance required for card readers as well as less wear and tear on the cards.
- the Mifare chip can be embedded in alternatives to cards; such as fobs or watches.
- Mifare cards do not need to be inserted into a reader, instead they only need to be presented within the range of the card reader. This will allow read and write operations to be performed.
- each card has it's own unique card serial number.
- can be used in a wet environment as card reader card be sealed.
disadvantages: - Higher cost than magnetic stripe cards.
What is a magnetic stripe card? A magnetic stripe card essentially consists of a row of small magnets. The card is encoded by setting the polarities of this row of magnets. A card reader determines the polarities of these magnets and outputs this information as a binary string. The coercivity of the card reflects the strength of the magnetic field that must be used to write data to the card. As a result it determines how immune the data stored on the card is to damage. Standard magnetic stripe card readers can read both LoCo and HiCo cards. - LoCo - Low coercivity - a lesser magnetic field is required to write data to the card. This is the type of card used for standard credit and bank cards.
- HiCo - High coercivity - a stronger magnetic field is required to write data to the card.
What are the physical characteristics of a magnetic stripe card?
- card size: approx. 85.7mm x 54.0mm x 0.8mm.
- magnetic stripe cards offer 3 tracks for data storage.
What are the benefits of a magnetic stripe card?
advantages: - well established standards.
- a robust form of data storage that is fairly immune to effects of water, dust etc.
disadvantages: - contact must be made with the reader for the card to be read.
- data stored on the card can be damaged by magnetic fields.
- subject to wear and tear of the magnetic stripe in normal operation.
- not the best choice for marine environments as salt water corrodes the card reader head.
|
