The MIFARE
MIFARE is a smart card technology with 13.56 MHz memory card on which chip data can be encoded by appropriate device like a card printer. It has a short read-range and originally developed for handling public transportation payment transactions. This card was used for public transportation networks in Asia, Europe and the US. Later, this concept was applied to building access and so as an HID access card.
However, in December 2007, Henry Plotz, a German Researcher and Karsten Nohl demonstrated before the Chaos Computer Club, a club of computer hackers, during the 24th Chaos Communications Congress, how they were able to hack the MIFARE chip showing its security vulnerabilities. As of today, there is limited use of MIFARE as an HID access card.
The Wiegand
The Wiegand is the trade name of the technology after its inventor, John R. Wiegand, used in card readers and sensors embedded in cards for access control. It has three small wires embedded in the Wiegand card in which the credentials are encoded during the manufacture of the individual cards.
The problem with the Weigand cards is that they need positive contact to transfer data. This results in a bottleneck where the throughput is retarded as compared to proximity sensors. Because of the low rate of throughput, it has been severely impeded as a contender in its use as an HID access card.
The HID proximity cards
The HID proximity card is the most popular RFID card in the market today. The acronym HID stands for Hughes Identification which was spun off from the time of Howard Hughes, owner of Hughes Aircraft Company. Each card is the size of today's ATM card. It contains an RFID chip operating at 125 kHz or 13.26 MHz. The 125 kHz card is more known as proximity cards while the 13.26 MHz card as the iClass cards.
The card contains embedded information consisting of two components: the facility code and the card number. These two bits of information provide the unique identifier of the card bearer. The facility code is contained in as many cards as there are number of personnel authorized to access that particular facility. The card number is unique to the card holder so that the two codes combined will identify who is authorized to be present where.
The moment the card is read, this information is then transmitted to the system's control here the data is analyzed. If approved, the access is granted.
This simple procedure makes the use of HID access very safe.
Conclusion
On the balance of all the information it is safe to say that between all the technology available, the simple way and secure structure of the HID access system is the best bet so far.
More Information:
An
HID access card is very different in operational details in comparison to an
hid proximity card. Ask your professional consultant on which is uniquely right for you.
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