Thursday 17 July 2008 at 21:35
In a paper named "Dismantling MIFARE Classic", security researchers at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Holland, announced they had cracked CRYPTO-1, the Mifare Classic algorithm, and would make the details of their research public at the European Computer Security Conference Esorics in October.
Thursday 10 July 2008 at 08:34
Thanks to the GSMA, two major steps on the way to NFC deployment have been passed this week. On a contractual and business model standpoint, the GSMA, the association of mobile network operators, has agreed with the EPC, the European Payment Council, to work on a global framework covering the interaction between banks and mobile operators.
Thursday 3 July 2008 at 08:07
Since the Mifare hack at the end of 2007, the whole industry is trying to save face. Nobody in the smart card industry thought the Mifare Classic card, a memory contactless card, was highly secure.
Thursday 26 June 2008 at 11:45
In a recent column in CIO, Bruce Schneier, a renowned cryptology expert, and chief security officer with BT, wrote about the difficulties of selling security, which happens to be the core of selling secure devices such as smart cards.
Thursday 19 June 2008 at 16:18
Niels Bohr, the well-known Danish physicist, once said, "Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future". May be our industry is experiencing such difficulty in prediction …
Thursday 12 June 2008 at 07:56
This week has been marked by the dematerialization of plane tickets on a worldwide basis. Old-fashioned plane tickets have been replaced by e-tickets, for at least 240 airlines belonging to IATA, covering more than 90% of international flights.
Thursday 5 June 2008 at 09:20
On June 2nd, 2006, the EU authorities allowed the merger between Gemplus and Axalto, respectively #1 and #2 of the smart card industry. So, now that the initial shock is over, we can wonder whether this merger is a success.
Thursday 29 May 2008 at 00:35
We've seen it with search engines, with emails, with maps, with office applications, … every time Google enters a new field, its offer brings such a breakthrough that the whole application field changes its behavior and business model.
Thursday 22 May 2008 at 22:51
A recent survey conducted by market research firm IDC and sponsored by Nortel Networks asked people on a worldwide basis what they would choose between their mobile phone, wallet, keys, laptop or digital music player if they had to leave the house for 24 hours and could take only one item.
Thursday 15 May 2008 at 12:58
For years, in the past, two companies were pretending they were the smart card industry world leader.
Thursday 8 May 2008 at 09:57
This week, we announce the excellent results of the two major payment organizations for Q1/2008. The market pushes them as Visa transaction volume grew 19% over the previous year, and MasterCard recorded a 15.7% increase in the number of transactions processed.
Thursday 1 May 2008 at 23:46
The WIMA conference and exhibition happened this week in Monaco. This event has quickly turned into one of the major places to meet for a mix of technical and marketing people, all involved in NFC developments.
Thursday 24 April 2008 at 10:34
While SIMposium is happening this week in Berlin, the smart card industry is reinforcing its pivotal role in mobile communication.
Thursday 17 April 2008 at 10:37
A major transit operator like New York NYCTA recently showed managing the cash associated with its transport services was no longer part of its core business. Now, MasterCard and Citibank contactless payment cards are being accepted directly as fare media. (cf. Smart Insights #07-43).
Thursday 10 April 2008 at 01:27
American Express announced this week it was discontinuing its Express Pay contactless payments key fob following poor customer take-up of the device. Some could be alarmed this is a bad signal for the contactless payments industry.
