MIFARE DESfire V1

[funex]

Hi,

I'm considering an implementation which requires for a card to be permanently fixed to a wall where an individual uses is android NFC capable device to report his location.

The tag is accessible by everyone and there's no surveillance, meaning that cloning the tag is a concern to us.

To my understanding DESfire V1 offers asymmetric encryption and the ability to run applications. Did I understood this right ?

Would the MIFARE SDK allow me an easy implementation of this scenario ? Also, is there any tutorial/documentation explaining how to program the cards to use digital signatures?

I would highly appreciate for any help or at least pointing me on the right direction.
Thanks in advance!

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[Rodolfo]

Hi Funex,
actually MIFARE DESFire EV1 (not "V1") has only hard-coded symmetric criptography (not asymmetric). It means, its built-in card operating system supports so-called 3-step authentication both using 3DES keys (168bit-key-lenght), as well as AES (128bit-keylenght).
This should be explained in MIFARE DESFire EV1 short form datasheet. Nevertheless, this technology looks like a small empty hard-disk, so you can write a bunch of signed-cryptograms, store them with access condition of READ-only files, so that people who tap with an Android phone will for sure read such cryptograms, but you have to implement asymmetric crypto calculations by your own on the Android app.
If you download MIFARE SDK -advanced version, you can handle DESFire commands (symmetric crypto) but bear in mind it is necessary to implement digital-signature verification or other PKI (public key infrastructure) techniques by your own. Try to download and install MIFARE SDK-lite version (freeware) and get familiarity with it. Then you can download more info about MIFARE SDK-advanced version (not for free) and compare both. In order to handle digital signature verification, there is a lot in the internet and in NXP application notes. Just give a search using NXP search engine on top right of your screen www.nxp.com
Cheers
Rodolfo

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