Intelligent CIO Europe Issue 09 | Page 93

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// INDUSTRY WATCH Christian Lackner, Segment Manager Smart City at NXP Semiconductors MIFARE PLUS EV1 OFFERS BANKING GRADE SECURITY AND ENHANCED USABILITY. research took several thousand hours and was done on an on-and-off basis and involved considerable amounts of trial and error. “We wanted to find out if it’s possible to bypass the electronic lock without leaving a trace,” said Timo Hirvonen, Senior Security Consultant at F-Secure. “Building a secure access control system is very difficult because there are so many things you need to get right. It was only after that we thoroughly understood how it was designed and we were able to identify seemingly innocuous shortcomings. We creatively combined these shortcomings to come up with a method for creating master keys.” F-Secure notified Assa Abloy of the findings and has collaborated with the lock maker over the past year to implement software fixes. Similarly, ASSA ABLOY Hospitality, is also complying with stricter security measures for its own benefit. The company has recently www.intelligentcio.com announced an enhancement of its VingCard RFID electronic locks with the support of NXP Semiconductors’ MIFARE Plus EV1 smart card IC. Through this strategic collaboration, ASSA ABLOY Hospitality is further strengthening its security protocol with the addition of a seamless and cost-effective upgrade path for hoteliers that also provides heightened security features for hotel staff and guests. With the added support of NXP’s MIFARE Plus EV1, ASSA ABLOY Hospitality’s electronic locks now offer hotel staff user- friendly communications tools from the lock to the staff card for more efficient lock management and monitoring. Replacing legacy technology that the locks were previously utilising, MIFARE Plus EV1 offers banking grade security and enhanced usability. The implementation also enables a smooth migration for hotels with multiple systems running on the legacy MIFARE Classic product. The dual operation mode of MIFARE Plus EV1 enables hotels to update their infrastructure step-by-step, depending on their needs. “ASSA ABLOY Hospitality is using our latest contactless ICs to further enhance its solutions,” said Christian Lackner, Segment Manager Smart City at NXP Semiconductors. “With this implementation, our two companies are now working even closer together to innovate the hotel industry by maximising keycard security and overall prope rty technology.” ASSA ABLOY Hospitality and NXP are also making their close collaboration more visible to the market. Future ASSA ABLOY Hospitality keycards will contain a MIFARE ingredient branding logo, identifying the underlying IC product and the partnership between the two companies. “The joint branding of the keycards helps hoteliers identify the appropriate contactless solution for their systems and illustrates the long- lasting relationship between the companies,” added Lackner. “MIFARE Plus EV1 is the perfect enhancement for our standard guest cards,” said Eric Thomsen, General Manager SW and Credentials at ASSA ABLOY Hospitality. “This technological enhancement will allow us to continuously address today’s needs, while creating an efficient and future-proof solution that will meet tomorrow’s.” n INTELLIGENTCIO 93