Create and read NFC tags with SpringCard NFC Tool and NFC Decoder

NFC Tags in a nutshell An NFC Tag is a regular ISO 14443 card (either a memory card or a microprocessor-based smartcard), holding a specific content. Depending on this content, the “reader” will perform automatically a predefined action. Typical actions are : open a URL (Internet address), dial a number or send an SMS (if … Read more

Mifare UltraLight C : low-cost yet high security

NXP (formerly Philips SemiConductors) Mifare UltraLight chip (MF0ICU1) is a inexpensive contactless memory, widely used to make disposable transport tickets or other low-cost identification tags. As MF0ICU1 lacks of authentication or even password protection schemes, the reading application has to way to determine whether the serial number and the data come from a genuine card, … Read more

Contactless ticketing and pre-payment using Mifare UltraLight C and Prox’N’Roll

Last saturday, SpringCard Prox’N’Roll PC/SC was the core component of the access control and payment system during the annual gala of french high-school École Centrale d’Électronique (ECE) located in Paris. NXP Mifare UltraLight C chips were embedded in the disposable wristbands (featuring the SpringCard logo) that were worn by 3000 attendees. Starting from SpringCard SDK, … Read more

Calypso Explorer now available for download

SpringCard contactless readers are often used together with Calypso cards, that are used worldwide by some major transport operators (‘Navigo’ in Paris for instance). We are now offering for free two software utilities we’ve developed to retrieve and explain the content of those cards : Calypso XML Dump is a CLI written in C that … Read more

Why one shouldn’t trust card’s serial number

Both ISO 14443 and ISO 15693 mandates that the contactless/proximity cards or tags all have a ‘more-or-less unique’ physical identifier, that is required to identify the card or tag during the initial discovery process (and during the anti-collision loop when there’s more than one card in the field). This identifier is called UID in 14443-A … Read more