Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Electromagnetic sleeves protect contactless IDs, but is the eavesdropping threat real?

Tuesday, August 15, 2006

With a long workday behind him, Mr. Government Worker leaves the building, heading for the massive parking lot. He passes a gentleman (Mr. Man), but little does Mr. Government Worker know that beneath the stranger’s briefcase hides an RFID Reader with an antenna short enough to remain out of sight but long enough to communicate with a FIPS 201 PIV Card. Mr. Man captures the ‘free-read’ ID number from the card and now can in essence replay this information to the access control reader at the entry door to the building to gain access.

A preposterous scenario? Not really, says Walt Augustinowicz, founder of Identity Stronghold, though others disagree.

There are 939 words in the rest of this article …

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New Jersey Transit’s use of NFC payments with Google Wallet has been an “overwhelming and resounding success,” according to NJ Transit spokesman John Durson.

Introduced on the NJ Transit network in October 2011, Google Wallet enables riders to purchase tickets with the tap of an NFC-enabled phone at New York Penn Station, Newark Liberty Airport’s rail station and on 7 city bus lines.

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Arcontia Technology AB, a Swedish producer of contactless smart card readers and terminals, has won a contract for devices to be used by Norwegian public transport authority Ruter AS.

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In ABI Research’s newest market study analysis, NXP Semiconductors has reportedly claimed the top spot in the contactless ticketing market with 74% of the market share.

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Cubic Transportation Systems has introduced Nextaccount, an account-based open payment platform that offers travelers the convenience to use contactless bank cards, student IDs and mobile phones as their smart ticket, in addition to transit issued smart cards.

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Bombardier Transportation has teamed up with the Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) to improve track worker protection with the company’s RFID and other advanced technologies.

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Evolis introduced its new card printer, coined Primacy, suited for instantly personalizing cards in medium to large runs, single or dual-sided and for a range of applications.

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