© SmartCard Networking Forum Chips and stuff A personal view Mick Davies SCNF Core Group member

© SmartCard Networking Forum Real hot news! Central government has stopped losing data! They have started getting their consultants to do it for them! Now that’s what I call outsourcing Government should distance itself from the constant stream of mishandled data, the near collapse of the finance sector, and blame it on the traders Or would that be selling themselves short? The country has clearly gone to the dogs…

© SmartCard Networking Forum Doggone Biometrics Talking of dogs – did you see about the Tel Aviv system of taking dog DNA so as to be able to check the supply chain of dog pooh! A fascinating, and I hope unique, use for a biometric Presumably they aim to check out the owners and then kick the c**p out of them too.

© SmartCard Networking Forum Let’s take stock A growing number of LAs have implemented smartcards Even more are now thinking about doing so by using the ENCTS platform And along comes a bunch of PhDs in Holland to wreck our party! They seem to have really cracked it!

© SmartCard Networking Forum …So where the heck are we?  We’ve issued getting on for 7 million Mifare ENCTS cards  We’ve only just got a few smart buses using them  Now we’ve got a set of slightly shop- soiled Mifare algorithms and a threat to publish them  So we’ve got a security problem on our hands… or have we…?

© SmartCard Networking Forum …have we really? All this angst about fraud etc doesn’t take account of the systems that are being replaced I heard on the news yesterday that they reckon around £30 million of counterfeit £1 coins are in circulation. This represents one in fifty pound coins! This puts something like a local e- money scheme into a slightly different context

© SmartCard Networking Forum … so is this news?  Not really – we’ve always known that Mifare is not suitable for higher functions  It is fine for school meals (who’d want more than one school dinner?)  It is fine for Library membership and is inherently more secure than the system it replaced  It is fine for Leisure services (what is the cost of an extra free swim?

© SmartCard Networking Forum Measure the risk  Think carefully before using Mifare for the higher functions  Access control  Carrying significant value  Systems where people are put at risk Remember the trust levels and act accordingly

© SmartCard Networking Forum Put risk in the proper context Most of our concessionary smartcards are acting dumb at present How difficult would it be to counterfeit a flash card? We were told that bus drivers could not easily spot a standard logo in a standard place on a card and that they needed the whole card just to recognise a travel concession. So they are going to have the time to spot a dud one are they?

© SmartCard Networking Forum What a triumph of acronymism! Technology for Long Term Care (TLC) We have the technology to keep an eye on elderly persons without needing to get out of our chairs. Given that there are currently around 3 young people for every individual of pensionable age, there could be a lot of wrinkly watching going on. If only we could make it cool

© SmartCard Networking Forum Maybe if we could interest Nintendo in Wii Wrinkly watching? By reporting on what objects I am using throughout the day, and for how long, they reckon they can work out what I have been doing. Time I spend with bathroom items apparently indicates I am washing and … I’m not sure that I wants my kids to be able to monitor my every euphemism Time spent with kitchen equipment apparently implies that I am eating Rather than running my illicit still Personally I’d be inclined to put my tag on my cat and see what they make of that The downside is that I’d have to get a cat first

© SmartCard Networking Forum Thinking more about acronyms – what about NFC & mobile phones What does the acronym stand for? If we can screw cards up just think what we can do with mobile technology! Think about how the elderly or those with a variety of disadvantages relate to mobile technology at the moment I find it difficult to get my Oyster card to read when its next to my wrinkly card! So lets not get carried away – at least not until we have to. Thanks