13 June, 2011
category: Contactless, NFC, Transit
Sony Corporation the launch of the next generation FeliCa IC chip with enhanced security adopting the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption.
The new IC chip will support AES as well as the existing DES encryption system for mutual authentication and data communication. The sample chip will be available for shipment from this winter, and mass production will start in the spring of 2012.
The newly developed IC chip will have the same command sets as the current DES-based FeliCa card system so that the FeliCa card with the new chip can easily be introduced into existing services. The new chip will have a security-migration function so that it will easily be able to migrate from the existing security system to the new AES encryption-based security.
Sony’s contactless smart card technology is deployed in card or mobile phone products for applications including transit and payment. To date, more than 500 million FeliCa cards and mobile phone IC chips in total have already shipped throughout the world.
Features of new FeliCa contactless IC chip include:
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High level of security for contactless smart card chips: It is planned to achieve the highest security level for this product by adding AES cryptographic functionality in addition to the current DES encryption for communication between card and reader/writer. Anti-tampering technology will be implemented to achieve higher than EAL5+ certification level according to ISO/IEC15408 common criteria.
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Multi-application platform with higher performance and reliability: Both higher transaction speed and longer communication distance will be achieved for every type of card application such as transportation ticket and electronic money. This will be achieved by pursuing lower power consumption than the current FeliCa IC chips. It will improve reliability of nonvolatile memory data by implementing new Error Checking and Correcting (ECC) functionality.
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Security-migration function and backward compatibility: New FeliCa IC chip will be compatible with the current product in terms of the command set both for DES cryptography and without security. It will be compatible to existing infrastructure using cryptographic communication with existing reader/writers supporting DES encryption and non-secure-based communication.