SCardSniffer2 spies the exchanges between a PC/SC application and a smart card

5 years ago, SpringCard introduced SCardSniffer, a tool that spies the exchanges between Windows applications and the PC/SC subsystem. SCardSniffer works by introducing a hook over winscard.dll.

Although this method is still perfectly working in most cases, it comes with some technical complexity (1. the sniffer and the sniffed application must both run on the same subsystem, either Win32 or Win64, hence 2 versions of the sniffer and 2. the injection of the hook is likely to be disabled on security-enforced computers and 3. it may also triggers some antivirus/malware detection tools, which leads to an unnecessary stress).

SCardSniffer2 is a new tool that offers basically the same function, but with a much simpler architecture.

SCardSniffer2 installs a new virtual smart card reader and acts as a relay between this virtual reader and the real reader, where the real card is.

The application to be spied must be reconfigured to connect to the virtual reader (instead of the real reader); SCardSniffer2 is then able to record all the APDUs exhanged between the application and the card.

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Getting started with SpringCard Companion

SpringCard Companion is the new all-in-one solution to manage, configure and update the latest generation of SpringCard “SpringCore” devices (Puck, SpringPark, etc). SpringCard Companion is an hybrid application that combines a clean, efficient and always up-to-date web front-end with a tiny local software, the Companion Service, that is the gateway between the cloud and the devices connected to your computer or local network.

As such, the Companion Service is also the base component to connect any application built for the web with the ‘physical world’ of PC/SC couplers and Smart Readers, using only simple WebSocket and REST API calls.

Before you start using SpringCard Companion Web application (available at companion.springcard.com) you should install the Companion Service on a Windows computer.

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PCSCCheck, the all-in-one tool to validate and tune your PC/SC installation

An analysis of the questions that are the most frequently asked to our technical support shows that many issues and concerns are due to the settings or the behaviour of Windows operating system itself.

This is particularly the case in security-enforced corporate environments, where strict administrative policies may prevent the user to install the right driver, or even prevent the applications to access local smart card readers.

The fact that Windows raises a couple of notifications (“Setting up a device”, then “The smart card requires drivers that are not present on this system”) every time a card is inserted in a PC/SC reader for the first time is also the source of many questions, that this article will address.

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How to be sure that the SpringCard PC/SC driver is installed on Windows?

Since all SpringCard USB PC/SC couplers comply with the USB CCID specification, they are supported by the generic CCID driver supplied by Microsoft as a part of the Windows operating system. As a consequence, when connecting a SpringCard PC/SC coupler to a computer for the first time, this coupler is associated to the generic “Microsoft Usbccid Smartcard Reader (WUDF)” driver by default.

This is a problem for many users, since this generic driver has many limitations that make it un-suitable for most of the use cases.

In this article, we’ll expose its 3 most obvious limitations, and expose the 2 different methods to installing the right driver.

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SCardSniffer spies the exchanges between a PC/SC application and PC/SC middleware

SCardSniffer is a new tool used to spy the exchanges between Windows applications and the smart cards or NFC tags that are accessed through a PC/SC reader (or coupler).

SCardSniffer
SCardSniffer main window

On a Windows computer, all card-aware applications communicate with smart cards or NFC tags through the system’s PC/SC library, winscard.dll.

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