NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION (NFC)

ABHISHEK.A.V1RN07EC003

• Everyone usually dreams of technology getting unified and where certain aspects of our lives will be completely supported through a single technology.

• Consumer electronics as of today has become more fast, multifunctional and networked.• Near Field Communication (NFC) is ‘the’ technology to make our lives easier.

INTRODUCTION

NFC Exploited

What is NFC?

• NFC is a short-range radio technology that operates on the 13.56 MHz frequency, with data transfers of up to 424 kilobits per second.

• NFC is based on RFID and it allows connectivity to be achieved very easily over distances of a few centimeters.

NFC is not a proprietary technology

• NFC standards are defined by the NFC Forum, a global consortium of hardware, software/application, credit card companies, banking, network-providers.

• First formed by NXP Semiconductors, Sony and Nokia.

How NFC works ?

Applications

LLCP(Logical Link

Control Protocol)

RTD(Record Type Definition)

&NDEF

(Data Exchange Format)

Card Emulation

(Smart Card Capability for Mobile Devices)

RF Layer ISO 18092 + ISO 14443

Peer to peer mode Read/write mode Card emulation mode

Communication Modes

• In reader/writer mode (mandatory), the NFC device is capable of reading NFC Forum-mandated tag types, such as in the scenario of reading an NFC Smart Poster tag.

• NFC tags are passive devices that can be used to communicate with active NFC devices (an active NFC reader/writer

• In Peer-to-Peer mode (mandatory), two NFC devices can exchange data. For example, you can share Bluetooth or Wi-Fi link set up parameters or you can exchange

data such as virtual business cards or digital photos. Peer-to-Peer mode is standardized on the ISO/IEC 18092 standard.

Communication Modes

• In Card Emulation mode (optional), the NFC device appears to an external reader much the same as a traditional contactless smart card. This enables payments and

ticketing by NFC devices without changing the existing infrastructure.

Communication Modes

APPLICATIONS

What Can NFC Do in Public Transport?

• The NFC Forum has identified three basic use cases for NFC: connection, access, and transactions. All three have application in transport.

• Public transport requires infrastructure for NFC Ticketing + NFC Payment

• Transportation Uses:

• Pay Parking fee• Purchasing fuels• Links to an up-to-date weather report website• Location-relevant map• Special discounted travel offers• Next bus/train arrival time• Taxi services• Emergency calls

Needs of NFC Ticketing

• Currently most of the tickets are “charged” at physical locations (kiosks, vending machines, service points) by using “physical currency” (cash, credit / debit cards)

• The OTA (over-the-air) ticket delivery needs new stakeholders.• Public transportation companies rarely develop their own

ticketing systems.• Develop and run a service for enabling OTA ticket purchase.• Connections to the different payment providers• Banks to enable real time electronic payments• Mobile operators to “host” the secure element• Trusted third parties e.g. to enable secure

access key• Offer secure application installation services

NFC payment and ticketing architecture

NFC payment and ticketing architecture

NFC payment and ticketing architecture

NFC payment and ticketing architecture

NFC payment and ticketing architecture

Why NFC in transport ?

• Ease of use: This criterion refers to “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free of effort”

• Cost: It regroups direct costs (e.g. cost of the technology, cost of implementation) and indirect costs (e.g. infrastructure operation and maintenance).

• Reliability: The purchase process should be flawless as it involves a financial transaction.

• User/Market Acceptance: This criterion represent the degree to which the user and the different stakeholders are already consenting to accept a technology for payments.

• Security: Implicit security features (e.g. embedded encryption) and ease of securing the technology.

• Flexibility: Degree to which the technology can be adapted in many different applications.

• Maturity: Development state of the technology.• Speed: Implicit speed of the technology for payments.• Scalability: Ability to grow. Usability in small and large environment.

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES

Disadvantages over Bluetooth• Lesser data transfer speeds (max 848 kbps).• Shorter range (max 20 cm) than Bluetooth technology.• Upcoming Bluetooth 4.0 low energy protocol will be consuming even lower power

than NFC as of now.• NFC alone does not ensure secure communications is vulnerable to data

modifications.

Advantages over Bluetooth• Almost instant connection (around 1/10 seconds) in comparison to pairing procedure

of Bluetooth.• Low power consumption and could work (alternatively) even when one of the device

is powerless .• NFC is compatible with existing passive RFID (13.56 MHz ISO/IEC 18000-3)

infrastructures.• Shorter range makes it suitable for crowded area with high interferences.

How is it different from RFID?

• RFID and NFC use the same working standards but the advantage of NFC is that it combines the feature to read out and emulate RFID tags, and shares data between electronic devices that both have active power (2-way communication).

• NFC relies on direct magnetic coupling between components inside the communicating devices, rather than free space propagation of radio waves.

• RFID is highly insecure for transactions and information can easily be corrupted unlike NFC.

• NFC can be used to initiate Bluetooth and Wi-Fi but RFID cannot

Comparison with other technologies

Comparison with other technologies

Security Aspects

• Eavesdropping • RF waves for the wireless data transfer with an antenna

enables attackers to pick up the transmitted Monitoring data.• An Open source device which is able to eavesdrop passive

and active NFC communications is the Proxmark instrument.

• Data modification/corruption: Instead of eavesdropping this is not a passive

attack. This attack is relatively easy to realize. One possibility to disturb the signal is the usage of a so called RFID Jammer.

• Man-in-the-middle attack

Security Aspects

• Relay attack :For this attack the adversary has to forward the request of the reader to the victim and relay back its answer to the reader in real time, in order to carry out a task pretending to be the owner of the victim’s smart card.

Security Aspects

The Future

• Near field communications (NFC) has taken far longer to get established than originally hoped for, but its fervent backers anticipate a breakthrough next year.

• Data rates of 848 kbps is being developed

• Highly secure applications arebeing developed for payments.

Thank you!