Carding Forum
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MIFARE 1K chips are one of the most common chips for access control systems (ACS). Cards with this chip are more complex, more reliable and have more capabilities, compared to the common Em Marin. In order not to be disappointed, it is worth considering several important points:
Let's discuss each point in more detail. Origin of chips Chips can be original NXP and Chinese analogs. Simply put, copies. Their main difference is in durability, level of protection and failure-free operation. Initially, Mifare chips were developed by Philips for payments in public transport. Today, the Mifare line is developed by NXP Semiconductors, a subsidiary of Philips. The name of the chip, which is the standard, is MF1 IC S50. There is also a company called Infineon, which received a license to produce the same chips. They do not differ from MF1 IC S50 in terms of stability and service life and are called SLE66R35. NXP Semiconductors is the largest manufacturer of smart technologies and semiconductors. The name MIFARE is a trademark that belongs to and can be legally used only by NXP. The operation of each MIFARE product is based on the international standard ISO 14443 Type A. This is the main standard for contactless cards. Mifare 1K compatible chips operate on the same standard. In addition to the two original ones, there are "compatible" or "non-original" Mifare 1K chips on the smart card market. They are manufactured without a license and are not legally entitled to bear the Mifare name. Manufacturers give the chips other names, but for ease of understanding they are called "compatible" or "non-original". Manufacturers of these chips write in their technical documentation that they operate on the ISO 14443 Type A standard, not on the MIFARE standards. The most common analogues are:
The key advantage of analogs is the cost, it is noticeably lower than the originals. But there is also a downside - not every non-original chip can handle complex memory functions and may sooner or later simply stop working. They do not always fully implement the ISO 14443 Type A standards.
Antenna winding. Cards and readers operating according to the ISO 14443 Type A standard exchange a signal at a frequency of 13.56 MHz. Each card has an antenna, which is made of several turns of the thinnest copper wire. And here another critical moment for the performance of the card appears. There are two options for winding the antenna: manually by the operator or automatically, on a machine. This affects the operating frequency of the antenna, the reading distance of the card and, in principle, the possibility of signal transmission. Manual winding is not always smooth, unlike automatic winding, and fails.
Connection of the chip and antenna. The stability of data transmission and the durability of the card also depend on the reliability of the connection of the antenna and the chip. The contact area of the antenna wire with the chip should be maximum, the welding should be flawless. Then the card will serve for a long time and without failures. Only high-tech companies can provide such quality of work. If the production solders manually, without sufficient technological control, this cannot ensure a good connection of the chip with the antenna. During use, from inevitable external influences, it can be destroyed and the card will become useless. These are three key factors that should be taken into account before ordering Mifare cards.
Let's consider how this happens in practice. Sasha has a low-quality card. He brings it to the reader, it blinks and beeps. Is everything ok? If you have a simple Em Marin chip, then yes. But Mifare chips are more complicated. Checking by simply bringing the card to the reader is not enough. The fact that the reader responds does not mean that all sectors of the card work. If you try to read or write another sector, a failure may occur and the card will not work, even if before that the reader beeped when simply brought to it. As a result, Sasha goes to complain to the card manufacturer and says that the cards do not work. He checked different sectors and memory blocks of his card and got a write or read error. And the supplier also checked all the cards, the readers responded to them, and he thought that everything was fine. How could the manufacturer check the cards correctly? At least read the serial number of the chip. Is Sasha always right? No. Perhaps he decided to save money and bought a cheap, low-quality reader, which failed. How can this problem be eliminated? Choose readers that have the function of storing keys inside the reader. Such a reader implements all the capabilities of Mifare, maintaining maximum security and safety.
All these points directly concern the choice of cards and readers. But there are things that should be taken into account when using and implementing Mifare smart cards. Mistakes in using MIFARE 1K cards Alexey Petrovich wanted to implement a new level of access control and management system at his enterprise. For this, he ordered Mifare instead of Em Marin cards. Will he get what he wanted? No, because he made several mistakes:
1. He replaced the readers, keeping the Wiegand26 interface. Mifare readers are connected to controllers using the Wiegand-42 interface or via a computer interface. The Mifare serial number is 4 bytes. The Wiegand 26 interface allows you to transfer only 3 bytes. It turns out that the number cannot be transferred to the ACS in full, part of it is lost, and cards with duplicate numbers appear in the system.
2. Identification in the ACS occurs through the serial number of the chip. This is an error in the case when a high degree of security is required. The number is open for reading and if an intruder wants to see this information, he will get it. As well as access to a secure area. Instead of a number, it is better to read the protected memory block of a contactless card. It is protected by keys and closed to third parties. In such a block, you can store card numbers in the formats accepted in your ACS. At the same time, the number can be 3 bytes long, which means you can save the Wiegand-26 interface, eliminating errors and security threats.
3. He bought white Mifare blanks and a printer. Quite often, customers take smart card blanks and a printer to apply images and personal information to them using the sublimation method. Savings? No. Such cards end up being the most expensive. Offset printing machines in large companies like ours apply high-quality and clear images to cards. Our customers receive cards with the necessary images and any texts, even with variable data. They are bright, clear and wear-resistant and are cheaper in normal print runs.
Sublimation printed cards are not even close. Does MIFARE 1K have a future?. Contactless cards with Mifare 1k chips will soon be discontinued. Officials from NXP say that the range of serial numbers for these chips is almost exhausted. The number is 4 bytes long and almost all combinations are already in use. What will happen next?
Source
- chip origin,
- antenna winding,
- quality of connection between chips and antennas.
Let's discuss each point in more detail. Origin of chips Chips can be original NXP and Chinese analogs. Simply put, copies. Their main difference is in durability, level of protection and failure-free operation. Initially, Mifare chips were developed by Philips for payments in public transport. Today, the Mifare line is developed by NXP Semiconductors, a subsidiary of Philips. The name of the chip, which is the standard, is MF1 IC S50. There is also a company called Infineon, which received a license to produce the same chips. They do not differ from MF1 IC S50 in terms of stability and service life and are called SLE66R35. NXP Semiconductors is the largest manufacturer of smart technologies and semiconductors. The name MIFARE is a trademark that belongs to and can be legally used only by NXP. The operation of each MIFARE product is based on the international standard ISO 14443 Type A. This is the main standard for contactless cards. Mifare 1K compatible chips operate on the same standard. In addition to the two original ones, there are "compatible" or "non-original" Mifare 1K chips on the smart card market. They are manufactured without a license and are not legally entitled to bear the Mifare name. Manufacturers give the chips other names, but for ease of understanding they are called "compatible" or "non-original". Manufacturers of these chips write in their technical documentation that they operate on the ISO 14443 Type A standard, not on the MIFARE standards. The most common analogues are:
- FM11RF08/Fudan;
- BL75R06/Belling;
- IS4439/ ISSI;
- SHC1102/ HuaHong;
The key advantage of analogs is the cost, it is noticeably lower than the originals. But there is also a downside - not every non-original chip can handle complex memory functions and may sooner or later simply stop working. They do not always fully implement the ISO 14443 Type A standards.
Antenna winding. Cards and readers operating according to the ISO 14443 Type A standard exchange a signal at a frequency of 13.56 MHz. Each card has an antenna, which is made of several turns of the thinnest copper wire. And here another critical moment for the performance of the card appears. There are two options for winding the antenna: manually by the operator or automatically, on a machine. This affects the operating frequency of the antenna, the reading distance of the card and, in principle, the possibility of signal transmission. Manual winding is not always smooth, unlike automatic winding, and fails.
Connection of the chip and antenna. The stability of data transmission and the durability of the card also depend on the reliability of the connection of the antenna and the chip. The contact area of the antenna wire with the chip should be maximum, the welding should be flawless. Then the card will serve for a long time and without failures. Only high-tech companies can provide such quality of work. If the production solders manually, without sufficient technological control, this cannot ensure a good connection of the chip with the antenna. During use, from inevitable external influences, it can be destroyed and the card will become useless. These are three key factors that should be taken into account before ordering Mifare cards.
Let's consider how this happens in practice. Sasha has a low-quality card. He brings it to the reader, it blinks and beeps. Is everything ok? If you have a simple Em Marin chip, then yes. But Mifare chips are more complicated. Checking by simply bringing the card to the reader is not enough. The fact that the reader responds does not mean that all sectors of the card work. If you try to read or write another sector, a failure may occur and the card will not work, even if before that the reader beeped when simply brought to it. As a result, Sasha goes to complain to the card manufacturer and says that the cards do not work. He checked different sectors and memory blocks of his card and got a write or read error. And the supplier also checked all the cards, the readers responded to them, and he thought that everything was fine. How could the manufacturer check the cards correctly? At least read the serial number of the chip. Is Sasha always right? No. Perhaps he decided to save money and bought a cheap, low-quality reader, which failed. How can this problem be eliminated? Choose readers that have the function of storing keys inside the reader. Such a reader implements all the capabilities of Mifare, maintaining maximum security and safety.
All these points directly concern the choice of cards and readers. But there are things that should be taken into account when using and implementing Mifare smart cards. Mistakes in using MIFARE 1K cards Alexey Petrovich wanted to implement a new level of access control and management system at his enterprise. For this, he ordered Mifare instead of Em Marin cards. Will he get what he wanted? No, because he made several mistakes:
1. He replaced the readers, keeping the Wiegand26 interface. Mifare readers are connected to controllers using the Wiegand-42 interface or via a computer interface. The Mifare serial number is 4 bytes. The Wiegand 26 interface allows you to transfer only 3 bytes. It turns out that the number cannot be transferred to the ACS in full, part of it is lost, and cards with duplicate numbers appear in the system.
2. Identification in the ACS occurs through the serial number of the chip. This is an error in the case when a high degree of security is required. The number is open for reading and if an intruder wants to see this information, he will get it. As well as access to a secure area. Instead of a number, it is better to read the protected memory block of a contactless card. It is protected by keys and closed to third parties. In such a block, you can store card numbers in the formats accepted in your ACS. At the same time, the number can be 3 bytes long, which means you can save the Wiegand-26 interface, eliminating errors and security threats.
3. He bought white Mifare blanks and a printer. Quite often, customers take smart card blanks and a printer to apply images and personal information to them using the sublimation method. Savings? No. Such cards end up being the most expensive. Offset printing machines in large companies like ours apply high-quality and clear images to cards. Our customers receive cards with the necessary images and any texts, even with variable data. They are bright, clear and wear-resistant and are cheaper in normal print runs.
Sublimation printed cards are not even close. Does MIFARE 1K have a future?. Contactless cards with Mifare 1k chips will soon be discontinued. Officials from NXP say that the range of serial numbers for these chips is almost exhausted. The number is 4 bytes long and almost all combinations are already in use. What will happen next?
- the usual Mifare 1K, but with a number 7 bytes long;
- new Mifare Plus.
Source
