- Email: [email protected]
UK researchers develop anti ‘shoulder surfing’ device
news
in brief • In a bid to enhance its support of the contactless payments market, On Track Innovations has announced its acquisition of French company InSeal SAS. The company acquired 100% of InSeal SAS share capital for an aggregate of 243,800 of its ordinary shares and 180,000 warrants. InSeal SAS currently provides an operating system for contactless applications to a variety of customers in the payments market and the company reported revenues of approximately US$560,000 in 2005, the first year in which its product was sold. • Sagem Orga has announced the appointment of Julien Zuccarelli as the new vice president – head of the Business Unit Telecommunications. Zuccarelli has almost 20 years of experience in the smart card business. He led the Telecommunications Business Unit of the Axalto/Schlumberger subsidiary CP8 and in his last position before moving to Sagem Orga he worked as development director Western Europe for Experian. Zuccarelli succeeds Paul Hill. • Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank (ARB) is installing ACI Worldwide’s Smart Chip Manager package for the issuing and processing of multiapplication EMV smart cards. The platform will allow the bank to issue instant EMV compliant smart cards and will support smart card enabled domestic SPAN2 payments framework. The technology will also be used to migrate ARB’s credit card portfolio to the EMV standard. The bank will use ACI’s software to manage the issuing and acquiring of approximately 4.3 million smart cards. • The 10 millionth smart card has been delivered to the US Department of Defense (DoD) by EDS. Under an aggressive five-year global security program managed by the Defense Manpower Data Center, it is the largest federal government advanced smart card program. EDS also announced that it has been awarded a new contract by the General Services Administration to provide additional smart cards to DoD and has received an initial delivery order for 1.25 million cards. The Java-based smart cards are provided to active duty, reserve, National Guard and DoD civilian personnel and combine identification, physical access and computer access capabilities. • Gemalto has achieved ISO/IEC 27001 certification for its advanced card personalization centre outside Toronto, Canada. This new certification is globally recognized and details requirements for the implementation of an information security management system, including security policy, organizational and personnel security, communications and operations management, as well as business continuity management.
4
transaction, similar to a watermark, that’s difficult to forge. The new Visa Contactless cards will be personalized by First Data as part of comprehensive processing services provided to Wells Fargo.
contactless
Industry Alliance backs smart cards for PASS The Smart Card Alliance (SCA), a US-based industry association, has said that contactless smart card technology best meets the objectives of the proposed People Access Security Service (PASS) card program. The PASS system is devised to help beef up security primarily at the US borders with Mexico and Canada. Initially, the US government had proposed that all US citizens should carry a passport instead of a driving licence to travel across the borders, but this was considered controversial because citizens would have had to pay US$97 for a passport. As a result, the PASS card system, which is part of President Bush’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), was devised as a more economical alternative. Roll out is scheduled for January 2008 – although this date is under scrutiny. SCA disagrees with the current DHS technology choice of EPC Gen 2, a type of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology based on the Electronic Product Code Generation 2 (EPC Gen 2) specification. According to the Alliance, this technology allows cards to be read at a distance of up to 30 feet, which raises security and privacy concerns. Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, commented: “RFID chips are not designed for human identity applications, but are optimized for supply chain and other applications that need low-cost, electronic identifiers that serve as a replacement for barcodes. In contrast, contactless smart card technology is widely used in secure identification cards and travel documents, supporting the level of security functionality required for protecting individual privacy.” The Alliance highlights many advantages to using contactless smart card technology for the WHTI PASS card program, including the ability to support electronic verification of authenticity to prevent counterfeiting and to use secure, encrypted communications to thwart eavesdropping and replay attacks, and ensure privacy protection for cardholders. A WHTI PASS card based on contactless smart chip technology can also leverage the infrastructure that is being put in place by DHS and the Department of State to support the new
ePassport. Using the same secure contactless technology for the PASS card and ePassport could potentially decrease the implementation time and lower the cost of the program. Contact: Deb Montner for SCA, Tel: +1 203 226 9290, Email: [email protected] Web: www.smartcardalliance.org
chip and pin
UK researchers develop anti ‘shoulder surfing’ device Research initially aimed at helping partially sighted customers has led to the creation of a device which will protect all customers from ‘shoulder Surfing’ when using a chip and PIN keypads. Now Boots, a major UK-chemist (and a supporter of the work) is performing a limited trial of the technology. Researchers at University of Warwick in the UK have created an easy to use "cradle" for chip & pin keypads, which incorporate a magnifying lens. The use of the lens (patent pending) is of significant benefit to visually impaired people (even those who simply need to switch glasses), however, it also provides additional benefit to customers, vendors and banks in that it has been proven to be a highly effective defence against shoulder surfing. The security effect arises because the view available from any other angle by a casual observer or even CCTV and hidden cameras is distorted, thus frustrating shoulder surfers and more sophisticated fraudsters. , Neil Radford an Enterprise Fellow at the University of Warwick has now established a company, Secure Access Solutions, to market the PED Cradle. Boots will pilot 35 cradles in one of its main city centre stores. Secure Access Solutions is also in discussions with the Royal National Institute of the Blind who are giving their expert assessment. Additional trials will be held with RNIB in June and July. Clive Barber of Boots Operations said: “Boots is constantly looking for ways to improve customer accessibility and safety. We believe this device could be of great benefit to our partially sighted customers, aiding their experience of shopping with chip & PIN. We also believe that the additional security provided by the unit may provide a useful benefit to all our customers.” Secure Access Solutions says it has identified how the same issues affect transactions at ATM Cash points and are already well advanced with a range of complementary products for ATM’s, which are scheduled for further trials later this year with a UK Bank. Contact: Neil Radford at Secure Access Solutions, Tel: +44 2476 323 349,email: [email protected]
Card Technology Today June 2006
in brief • In a bid to enhance its support of the contactless payments market, On Track Innovations has announced its acquisition of French company InSeal SAS. The company acquired 100% of InSeal SAS share capital for an aggregate of 243,800 of its ordinary shares and 180,000 warrants. InSeal SAS currently provides an operating system for contactless applications to a variety of customers in the payments market and the company reported revenues of approximately US$560,000 in 2005, the first year in which its product was sold. • Sagem Orga has announced the appointment of Julien Zuccarelli as the new vice president – head of the Business Unit Telecommunications. Zuccarelli has almost 20 years of experience in the smart card business. He led the Telecommunications Business Unit of the Axalto/Schlumberger subsidiary CP8 and in his last position before moving to Sagem Orga he worked as development director Western Europe for Experian. Zuccarelli succeeds Paul Hill. • Saudi Arabia’s Al Rajhi Bank (ARB) is installing ACI Worldwide’s Smart Chip Manager package for the issuing and processing of multiapplication EMV smart cards. The platform will allow the bank to issue instant EMV compliant smart cards and will support smart card enabled domestic SPAN2 payments framework. The technology will also be used to migrate ARB’s credit card portfolio to the EMV standard. The bank will use ACI’s software to manage the issuing and acquiring of approximately 4.3 million smart cards. • The 10 millionth smart card has been delivered to the US Department of Defense (DoD) by EDS. Under an aggressive five-year global security program managed by the Defense Manpower Data Center, it is the largest federal government advanced smart card program. EDS also announced that it has been awarded a new contract by the General Services Administration to provide additional smart cards to DoD and has received an initial delivery order for 1.25 million cards. The Java-based smart cards are provided to active duty, reserve, National Guard and DoD civilian personnel and combine identification, physical access and computer access capabilities. • Gemalto has achieved ISO/IEC 27001 certification for its advanced card personalization centre outside Toronto, Canada. This new certification is globally recognized and details requirements for the implementation of an information security management system, including security policy, organizational and personnel security, communications and operations management, as well as business continuity management.
4
transaction, similar to a watermark, that’s difficult to forge. The new Visa Contactless cards will be personalized by First Data as part of comprehensive processing services provided to Wells Fargo.
contactless
Industry Alliance backs smart cards for PASS The Smart Card Alliance (SCA), a US-based industry association, has said that contactless smart card technology best meets the objectives of the proposed People Access Security Service (PASS) card program. The PASS system is devised to help beef up security primarily at the US borders with Mexico and Canada. Initially, the US government had proposed that all US citizens should carry a passport instead of a driving licence to travel across the borders, but this was considered controversial because citizens would have had to pay US$97 for a passport. As a result, the PASS card system, which is part of President Bush’s Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), was devised as a more economical alternative. Roll out is scheduled for January 2008 – although this date is under scrutiny. SCA disagrees with the current DHS technology choice of EPC Gen 2, a type of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology based on the Electronic Product Code Generation 2 (EPC Gen 2) specification. According to the Alliance, this technology allows cards to be read at a distance of up to 30 feet, which raises security and privacy concerns. Randy Vanderhoof, executive director of the Smart Card Alliance, commented: “RFID chips are not designed for human identity applications, but are optimized for supply chain and other applications that need low-cost, electronic identifiers that serve as a replacement for barcodes. In contrast, contactless smart card technology is widely used in secure identification cards and travel documents, supporting the level of security functionality required for protecting individual privacy.” The Alliance highlights many advantages to using contactless smart card technology for the WHTI PASS card program, including the ability to support electronic verification of authenticity to prevent counterfeiting and to use secure, encrypted communications to thwart eavesdropping and replay attacks, and ensure privacy protection for cardholders. A WHTI PASS card based on contactless smart chip technology can also leverage the infrastructure that is being put in place by DHS and the Department of State to support the new
ePassport. Using the same secure contactless technology for the PASS card and ePassport could potentially decrease the implementation time and lower the cost of the program. Contact: Deb Montner for SCA, Tel: +1 203 226 9290, Email: [email protected] Web: www.smartcardalliance.org
chip and pin
UK researchers develop anti ‘shoulder surfing’ device Research initially aimed at helping partially sighted customers has led to the creation of a device which will protect all customers from ‘shoulder Surfing’ when using a chip and PIN keypads. Now Boots, a major UK-chemist (and a supporter of the work) is performing a limited trial of the technology. Researchers at University of Warwick in the UK have created an easy to use "cradle" for chip & pin keypads, which incorporate a magnifying lens. The use of the lens (patent pending) is of significant benefit to visually impaired people (even those who simply need to switch glasses), however, it also provides additional benefit to customers, vendors and banks in that it has been proven to be a highly effective defence against shoulder surfing. The security effect arises because the view available from any other angle by a casual observer or even CCTV and hidden cameras is distorted, thus frustrating shoulder surfers and more sophisticated fraudsters. , Neil Radford an Enterprise Fellow at the University of Warwick has now established a company, Secure Access Solutions, to market the PED Cradle. Boots will pilot 35 cradles in one of its main city centre stores. Secure Access Solutions is also in discussions with the Royal National Institute of the Blind who are giving their expert assessment. Additional trials will be held with RNIB in June and July. Clive Barber of Boots Operations said: “Boots is constantly looking for ways to improve customer accessibility and safety. We believe this device could be of great benefit to our partially sighted customers, aiding their experience of shopping with chip & PIN. We also believe that the additional security provided by the unit may provide a useful benefit to all our customers.” Secure Access Solutions says it has identified how the same issues affect transactions at ATM Cash points and are already well advanced with a range of complementary products for ATM’s, which are scheduled for further trials later this year with a UK Bank. Contact: Neil Radford at Secure Access Solutions, Tel: +44 2476 323 349,email: [email protected]
Card Technology Today June 2006