Types of smart cards

whiteoxe · 2009-09-10 12:57

Does anyone know of a smart card without a processor (just EEPROM) then I can read and write to with a propellor using SPI or I2C ?

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Mike Green · 2009-09-10 13:16

A simple Google search for "smart card eeprom" came up with this link:

www.hackerscatalog.com/Products/Smart_Cards/hardware_smartcards.html

There was also a datasheet for an Atmel EEPROM module (not embedded in a card) that showed up:

whiteoxe · 2009-09-10 13:24

thanks , ill go have a looksie [noparse]:)[/noparse]

whiteoxe · 2009-09-10 15:04

Mike ; That site had a book "Smart Card Bible" could be good !

LoopyByteloose · 2009-09-10 16:10

I have two 'smart cards' that I carry. One is my Taiwanese Health Insurance card and the other is a Starbuck's Debit card. They look like they are the same Atmel design.
From what I can see, they both use the same system and it is likely to be an EEProm.

My guess is that they use a serial I/O like I2C or SPI and that the matrix of inputs can be adapted to each different client as a 'special code'. If you get it wrong, you damage the card. So it doesn't seem like a hack is really easy to do unless you are just plain lucky.

The other EEPROM that I really like is the I-Button system. They have a lot of different features and can do some wonderful things.

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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?

aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

whiteoxe · 2009-09-10 22:25

LB; They are talking about having a ' Health Card' here in OZ which will hold all your personal medical data but i don't think its getting a warm reception having little to do with health insurance though. Could u clarify what you mean by a 'Hack' I'm just not sure if your thinking thats what i have to do to write to a card ?

One thing I haven't spent anytime thinking on is the difference of storing and retreiving data on cards with a processor Vs. a card that is simple EEPROM memory.
If there was a standardised method /code of storing clients(persons) name/age/bloodgroup/diagnosis's/IQ(kidding) then whats the real need for a card to have a processor. ?

Just a thought. BTW do the cards u have , have processors ?

LoopyByteloose · 2009-09-11 15:23

I presume that Atmel sells blank cards for demonstration purposes with a standard interface. Maybe it is just the unit without the card around it. You could use those for hobby purposes, but there is the question of building a reader. I'd prefer just to use a DIP EEPROM for such experiments and development - physically easier.

There are about 10 pads on the card and only 4 or so are required to make it work, so I suspect that the customer specifies a custom arrangement to make it harder to abuse the card. That is where the 'hack' aspect might come into play. If there is encrypted data, that is yet another hacking issue.

I think each system would create its own confidential standard according to local security laws.

The real need for the card is to make duplication of fraudulent cards much harder. We have over a billion Chinese neighbors that might want to slip into the Taiwan system and get medical care. I have had heart surgery and a gall bladder removal and the cost is far cheaper than the US while the quality of the medicine is good. Frankly, I dislike the card as I have had it break twice and it is troublesome to get a replacement. I'd rather have to produce two or more pieces of ID to confirm whom I am, but the Taiwanese want to promote anything solid-state.

The data most likely is encrypted, but it really is an EEPROM without a processor. Most of the talk about smart cards is nonsense. They are just blank memory that can be updated. I suppose you could take a Starbucks Debt Card and copy the EEPROM and see if you could duplicate and buy more lattes. But if they all clear a central server, it would never work.

If you are interested in encrypted data, Linux offers a lot of good software to do such work to any amount of data, large or small.

The Taiwanese Health Card has some data on it, but I suspect that it is merely proof of identity and maybe blood type and if you are paid up. It also has a photo. There is a centralized server for the whole 25,000,000 people that keeps general records. There have been reports of abuse when news reports have gotten into medical records, but that can happen with any centralized computer system. The card may not be the problem.

It would be different if there were actual biometrics on the card, like data to confirm a retina scan.

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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?

aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan

mctrivia · 2009-09-11 20:03

My college had magnetic cards used for the photocopier. We took apart a tape deck and made our own copies of a card with $20 bucks on it.

Most now aday are smart and only put an I'd number on the card. The amount and other info is on central database. Even if copied you still only get $20 just more cards to use it on.

Don't know about the smart chip cards but I do know that is what is done for paypass rfid cards.

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mikediv · 2009-09-11 22:13

Guys are these like what DTV uses I still have my card programmer left over from the old days of the DTV football cards then they moved to the new P2 cards and that ended are DTV hacking as far as I know no one has ever hacked these new smart cards
we just hashed the old HU cards we never really hacked them just found a way to unlock them by brute force but I wonder if my old programmer would read any of the newer smart cards.

Types of smart cards

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