Rich Handley
The NXP Semiconductors announced its new MIFARE DESFire EV3 IC designed to provide improved performance and security, and facilitate the integration of mobile services for security and connectivity in smart cities services. The integrated circuit (CI) is compatible with previous generations, informs the company and offers greater operational distance and faster transaction speed. In combination with its security features, says NXP, the new CI allows faster, more secure and contactless transactions, such as paying for parking, accessing offices or campuses and using other essential services in the city.
The MIFARE DESFire portfolio was created for mass transit ticketing applications, the company reports, and the EV3 IC was designed to offer convenience to end users and reliability for service providers. CI provides support for multiple applications and a variety of features that allow public transportation agencies, access control solution providers and system integrators to collaborate on new business models and scale their services.
“We are committed to providing our passengers with safe, reliable and flexible transport solutions,” said Barry Dorgan, head of ticket systems at the Irish National Transport Authority, in a prepared statement. “By using NXP’s proven MIFARE DESFire products, we can continue to support our cyclists with an integrated transportation experience that is safe and convenient.”
The security features in EV3 IC publicly allow users to protect data and ensure privacy, according to the company. The hardware and software are certified by Common Criteria EAL 5+, and the IC supports a choice of open encryption algorithms. A card-generated MAC helps to securely authenticate transactions, the company explains, while a Transaction Timer feature helps mitigate intermediary attacks, making it difficult for an attacker to interfere with the transaction.
In addition, a Secure Unique NFC (SUN) messaging feature provides a secure method for maintaining data confidentiality and integrity. Each time a card, phone or ticket is touched with the SUN feature activated, NXP reports, a unique authentication message and an encrypted URL are generated and can be sent to a server for verification – which, according to the company, non-clonable taps .
Support for MIFARE DESFire EV3 will be integrated with NXP’s MIFARE 2GO cloud service, which manages digitized credentials based on MIFARE products and helps optimize mobile integration across the NXP ecosystem. With this functionality, smart city services can be deployed on smartphones, wearables and other NFC-enabled mobile devices.
“With the launch of MIFARE DESFire EV3, NXP is laying the groundwork for a new level of connected smart city services, regardless of form factor and which may be available on a traditional card or mobile device,” said Philippe Dubois, from NXP. Vice President and General Manager for Internet of Things Security and Secure Mobility and Retail, in the prepared statement.
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smart city installations
“The security features of the IC help prevent fraud and theft and, combined with its ability to support a wide variety of applications, the IC paves the way for the management of many other smart city services, in addition to traffic and control access. society with our contactless solutions for large-scale use, as the global impact of Covid-19 makes contactless transactions a necessity ”.
“As a leading manufacturer of RFID-based inlays and antennas and a long-term partner of NXP, we are excited about the new product’s enhanced feature set and scalability,” said Benoit Ravier, senior vice president of global sales at Linxens. “Together with NXP, we support smart city installations, making them safer and more convenient.”
For simplified deployment, each EV3 IC is pre-configured with keys to enable delegated application management, which supports wireless and wireless updates to smart cards deployed using NFC-enabled smartphones. In addition, NXP’s upcoming MIFARE Plus EV2 IC will provide a replacement to upgrade existing installations of existing MIFARE Plus and MIFARE Classic products for added security.