IT Security Stack Exchange
IT Security Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [nfc]

NFC (Near-Field Communication) is a short-range wireless technology, typically requiring a distance of 4cm or less to initiate a connection between two endpoints.

NFC enabled devices can communicate with each other by touching them together or bringing them into close proximity. Some anticipated applications include contactless financial transactions, data exchange, and simplified setup of more complex communications such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

NFC-enabled devices may act as electronic identity documents and keycards used for authenticating a person. Communication is also possible between an NFC device and an unpowered NFC chip, called "NFC tag".

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How can RFID/NFC tags not be cloned when they are passive technology?

Everywhere a question like this is asked, I see people responding that (in a scenario where a card is used) the card does some processing with the data it receives/generates some data when it receives a signal. How is this possible without…
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Can a student ID containing an NFC chip be cloned?

The head of our IT department and Networking class in my college has given me and another student a challenge; he told us that if we could clone the NFC tags in our student ID's used to sign in on time, he would give one of us unlimited access to…
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How do NFC tags prevent copying?

Ten years ago, we opened our building's front door with a badge. Five years ago we paid public transports with an RFID card. Today we pay for our bread with the same system and tomorrow we would probably be able to authenticate ourselves with…
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Do readers for the "Mifare DESFire EV1" smartcard really need to know the card's secret key in order to authenticate the card?

I'm trying to understand the security of a contactless smartcard system, used for access control and payment. The card is a Mifare DESFire EV1 implementing ISO 14443 (see the this documentation collection). I've read about side channel attacks…
Beat
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NFC contactless payment security

This is really bugging me. Up until recently debit cards with an electronic chip were the most popular electronic form of payment available in Poland (I'd wager that in other European countries as well). It does seem pretty safe too - in order to…
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What prevents people getting charged over NFC in crowded places?

I don't have an NFC-enabled device and I couldn't find any information about this in Google. What is it that protects me against an attacker with a portable NFC terminal charging payments by just bumping into me on the street? Do all NFC devices…
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Is it possible to clone an RFID/NFC card using a simple RFID reader, for future reuse and impersonation?

RFID/NFC technology is used in credit cards and many other personal identification applications. Is it possible/how easy is it to clone a card using a simple RFID reader? In other words, can the retrieved information be reused in the future by the…
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How safe is my contactless bank card?

In the past few years Contactless Payment cards have been introduced and I have been reading some articles surrounding security of these cards. The following article "Stealing data from contactless cards is easy, experts warn" states A Which?…
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How does Near Field Communication (NFC) compare to RFID technologies? Looking for a functional primer

I'm starting my independent studies in RFID and NFC and am trying to understand how they relate to each other, and what security issues are common/unique to each. Is RFID a superset of NFC? (or vice versa?) Is all RFID / NFC hardware the same? (my…
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What NFC protocol is used to read information on a Passport?

I'm experimenting with NFC and realized that my passport actually stores data that is only available when the passport is opened. (A closed passport doesn't seem to divulge any information) What sequence of instructions is required to read data…
makerofthings7
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How secure is NFC on mobile devices?

Near field communication is becoming more commonly available in modern mobile devices, such as smartphones and tablets. This functionality can be used to communicate between such devices, or with standalone NFC terminals such as payment points. What…
Polynomial
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Mifare DESfire EV1 cloning?

How can I clone an encrypted Mifare DESfire EV1 Card? Tried a 13.56Mhz Reader/writer from eBay but didn't work properly... I need to find any possible way of doing this.
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Contactless credit cards security

In the UK there has been a large increase recently in the use of contactless card payments (you pay by waving your card over a reader). Prior to this the primary way to pay with a card was to use "chip and PIN" where you insert your card into a…
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Is it possible to clone my contactless debit card while it's in my pocket?

I have a bank account that I never use, someone cloned my debit card and used it to buy something in Brazil in order to make sure the cloning was successful then they started making transactions of £10 till they sucked everything in the…
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What is the difference between secure element and smart card?

From smartcardalliance.org: The secure element [...] resides in highly secure crypto chips (usually a smart card chip). My questions are: Aside from smart card chip, are there any other types of secure elements? Is a smart card chip always a…
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