NXP advances security for contactless single use applications

What's new: NXP Semiconductors has announced the most secure member of its MIFARE Ultralight family. The MIFARE Ultralight AES uses standard AES authentication with Common Criteria EAL3+ security certification to bring privacy and security to limited-use contactless tickets, RFID basic guest cards and other limited-use contactless applications.

Why it matters: As everything becomes increasingly connected, security has quickly become a key feature for many products. With MIFARE Ultralight AES, solution providers have a more secure, convenient way to issue limited-use contactless tickets and cards, including RFID basic guest cards, event tickets, access passes, loyalty cards or transit tickets.

More details: The MIFARE Ultralight AES uses cryptography with sufficient key length recommended by the National Institute of Standards and Technology for secure authentication and protected data access with the option to limit negative authentication attempts, resulting in more secure implementations for guest protection and secure room access or as a secure transport ticket in smart cities. The new ICs leverage the same memory structure within the MIFARE Ultralight family, making it easy for developers to more quickly deliver advanced security in limited use ticketing applications.

“From hotel key cards to transport and event tickets, we’re making it easier for developers to implement secure, contactless access at scale,” said Andre Perchthaler, Segment Manager, MIFARE Smart Cities, NXP. “By taking advantage of a single, standard-based encryption method, such as AES, service providers have the benefit of greater fraud prevention, while also being able to streamline integration and key management. With MIFARE Ultralight AES, the full MIFARE product portfolio offering now serves AES authentication from single-use up through multi-applications, simplifying access infrastructure, and reducing complexity and maintenance costs.” 

Additional Details:

• Protected data access based on AES authentication with 128-bit key length and optional Command Counter to limit negative authentication attempts
• Configurable secure messaging communication mode with CMAC for integrity protection
• 7-byte UID with optional Random ID support for enhanced privacy
• ECC-based originality signature to allow a product validation based on public key (pre-programmed)
• AES-based originality check to validate the origin of the IC with support of NXP tools
• ISO/IEC 14443 A -2 / -3 compliant
• 144 byte EEPROM user memory