Monday, March 26, 2012

Barclaycard First to Show Inherent Security Flaws in NFC, Others to Follow...

Unlike Barclaycard and most other NFC "players" NFC Data Inc.  incorporated military level encryption into the world's first NFC Card Reader, Writer and Viewer...only you can use it.
for more info click here


This week, the UK’s Channel 4 News revealed how easy it is to ‘steal’ data from these contactless cards, “using nothing more than an ordinary [NFC-capable] smartphone, and some specially-designed – but devastatingly simple – software”.  (read more or watch the video below)



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Barclaycard Susceptible to "Tap and Steal"


Tap the Card, Steal the Unencrypted Card Details...Go Shop on Amazon
Barclays 'contactless' cards exposed to fraudBarclays bank is facing the prospects of official fines after it emerged that more than 13 million customers have been exposed to potential fraud.
Barclays 'contactless' cards exposed to fraud
Last night the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills called for urgent action amid the claims of "serious security flaws" Photo: AFP
9:00PM GMT 23 Mar 2012
An investigation found users of the bank’s “contactless” debit or credit cards, designed to make payment when held next to special “readers”, could have their details stolen without their knowledge.
But Channel 4 News found that special “readers” built into new mobile phones can take data from the cards in wallets and pockets in just one swipe.
Using data taken from a card, researchers commissioned by the programme were able to buy “multiple goods online” through Amazon.com.
Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/news/9163969/Barclays-contactless-cards-exposed-to-fraud.html 
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Nine Finalists Seek Top Honors in NFC Forum & WIMA's NFC Global Competition 2012

N-Mark Logo for certified devices
N-Mark Logo for certified devices (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

March 26, 2012 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time 
Winners Will Be Announced at WIMA in Monaco, April 12
WIMA
WAKEFIELD, Mass.--()--The NFC Forum, a non-profit industry association that advances the use of Near Field Communication (NFC) technology, and WIMA, a worldwide event dedicated to NFC technology, today announced the nine finalists in their Tap Into Innovation: NFC Global Competition 2012. Created to recognize the development and deployment of innovative and exemplary NFC solutions around the world, this year's competition attracted three times as many entries as the previous contest in 2010, showcasing the tremendous growth and interest in NFC implementations.
“We have been very impressed with the range and diversity of entries that were submitted to the competition this year”
The 2012 entries cover a broad span of consumer and business application areas, ranging from new approaches to established applications such as mobile couponing, mobile payment, and retail merchandising, to inventive solutions in new fields such as social media, fitness and health, and cloud-based functions.
A jury composed of senior professionals and recognized experts from academia and industry evaluated all entries and selected three finalists in each of three categories, as follows.
  • Best Innovative Solution for the entry that uses NFC technology in the most inventive way to address a market, business, or consumer need:
    SAi (Israel): Tag-a-Bag luggage tagging and identification
    TapThat Games LLC (USA): TapThat game
    XIUS (USA): MIT Active Poster Cafeteria Ordering System
  • Best Business Viability for the entry that offers an NFC solution with the most commercial potential:
    Barclaycard (UK): Quick Tap contactless mobile payment service
    Editor's Note on Barclaycard...nothing is encrypted... 

    Barclays 'contactless' cards exposed to fraud
    Barclays bank is facing the prospects of official fines after it emerged that more than 13 million customers have been exposed to potential fraud.  Thomas Cannon of ViaForensics, mobile security experts who organised the research, told the Telegraph: "All I did was I tapped my phone over your wallet."  "Using the wireless reader on the phone I was able to lift out the details from your card, that includes the long card number, the expiry date and your name. None of it was encrypted, it was simply a case of the details coming out through the air.

  • Korea Smart Card Co., Ltd. (South Korea): Mobile T-money ticketing solution
    NXP Software (China): MediaTribe media sharing
  • Best User Experience for the solution that best leverages the power, ease, and convenience of NFC technology:
    good2gether (USA): good2gether and Do Good Badges for nonprofit support
    Korea Smart Card Co., Ltd. (South Korea): Mobile T-money ticketing solution
    NXP Software (China): MediaTribe media sharing
"This year, Tap Into Innovation attracted scores of entries from 22 countries, demonstrating the global acceptance of NFC," said Koichi Tagawa, chairman of the NFC Forum. "Clearly, NFC is inspiring the imaginations of inventors and entrepreneurial businesses in all sectors. We commend the finalists for their efforts and wish them luck at WIMA."
"We have been very impressed with the range and diversity of entries that were submitted to the competition this year," said Joanna Merchie, WIMA Executive Director. "Our finalists' innovative uses of NFC are opening our eyes to the far-reaching applicability of the technology, and building anticipation for the announcement of the winners and the demonstrations of their solutions at WIMA."
Finalists are invited to the awards ceremony on April 12, 2012 at WIMA in Monaco, where the three first-place winners will be announced. All finalists are also candidates for the Audience Award, a special award to be given at the ceremony to the solution that receives the most votes from the WIMA audience.
Each first-place winner will receive a Global Competition trophy, and all nine finalists will receive certificates of commendation. The winners will have the opportunity to demonstrate their solutions at the NFC Forum booth, F10-F11, at WIMA on April 13. Further details about the competition may be found at http://www.nfc-forum.org/events/2012_competition/.
About WIMA
WIMA is the leading global conference and exhibition held in Monaco and the US exclusively dedicated to NFC applications, products and services and a name of confidence for hundreds of industry companies. The events bring together the entire ecosystem with both transversal and vertical sectors from industry leaders to startups, and from application developers to merchants and service providers spanning a wide variety of industries. WIMA is a catalyst, facilitating networking and information sharing, enabling partnering and business to take place within the NFC industry. More information at: www.wima-nfc.com.
About Near Field Communication Technology
NFC technology makes life easier and more convenient for consumers around the world by making it simpler to make transactions, exchange digital content, and connect electronic devices with a touch.
A standards-based connectivity technology, NFC harmonizes today's diverse contactless technologies, enabling current and future solutions in areas such as access control, consumer electronics, healthcare, information collection and exchange, loyalty and coupons, payments, and transport.
NFC technology is supported by the world's leading communication device manufacturers, semiconductor producers, network operators, IT and services companies, and financial services organizations. NFC is compatible with hundreds of millions of contactless cards and readers already deployed worldwide.
About the NFC Forum
The NFC Forum (http://www.nfc-forum.org) was launched as a non-profit industry association in 2004 by leading mobile communications, semiconductor, and consumer electronics companies. The Forum's mission is to advance the use of Near Field Communication technology by developing specifications, ensuring interoperability among devices and services, and educating the market about NFC technology. The Forum's 160+ global member companies currently are developing specifications for a modular NFC device architecture, and protocols for interoperable data exchange and device-independent service delivery, device discovery, and device capability.
The NFC Forum's Sponsor members, which hold seats on the Board of Directors, include leading players in key industries around the world. The Sponsor members are: Barclaycard, Broadcom Corporation, INSIDE Secure, Intel, MasterCard Worldwide, Microsoft Corp., NEC, Nokia, NTT DOCOMO, Inc., NXP Semiconductors, Renesas Electronics Corporation, Samsung, Sony Corporation, STMicroelectronics, and Visa Inc.

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Identive Opens the Door to Physical Access With NFC-Enabled Smartphones


PRESS RELEASE
March 26, 2012, 12:00 a.m. EDT
SANTA ANA, Calif. and ISMANING, Germany, Mar 26, 2012 (GlobeNewswire via COMTEX) -- Identive Group, Inc. INVE +7.07% (frankfurt:INV), a provider of products and services for the identification, security and RFID industries, today announced a revolutionary way to enable the use of mobile phones to open doors and log on to computer networks. For the first time, users can enjoy the freedom of an open standards-based solution with government level security to gain access to buildings and IT networks using NFC-enabled smartphones.
In the industry's first open standards-based solution for NFC-enabled physical access, the government-grade access authentication protocol known as PLAID is integrated with the secure processor within an NFC-enabled smartphone. When used with Identive's new line of TouchSecure(R) readers, the NFC smartphone replaces traditional secure physical access credentials.
"NFC was developed to bring simplicity to everyday mobile interactions," said David Holmes, Vice President Mobility & NFC Solutions for Identive. "By introducing an open source industry standard authentication protocol on top of NFC, we have for the first time provided a way for customers to invest in NFC technology for physical access, with confidence that the solutions will be interoperable with other standards-based offerings while providing a high level of security."
With nearly 300 million NFC-enabled smartphones forecast to be on the market by 2014, one of the most recurring requests from government and commercial organizations is the ability to integrate smartphones into existing high security physical access environments. With this groundbreaking, truly open standards-based technology from Identive, customers can use their choice of key fobs, traditional cards and mobile phones interchangeably.
"One of the main drivers for the use of smartphones as replacements for traditional access badges is to reduce the expense and management of lost and forgotten cards; mobile phones are less likely to be misplaced or left at home, for example," stated Joe Tassone, Identive's Executive Vice President of Technology and Product Management. "Security also plays a factor in organizations' decisions to utilize smartphones in lieu of key cards, as mobile phones can be remotely and securely managed employing "over the air" (OTA) techniques for credential issuance and updates."
By leveraging an existing international standard, this new NFC solution augments Identive's commitment to vendor interoperability and a single, secure customer ecosystem for physical and logical access, as well as additional applications such as payment and cloud security.
Identive will be demonstrating its open NFC physical access solutions in booth #26087 at the International Security Conference and Exhibition - ISC West 2012, taking place March 28 - 30 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
About Identive Group
Identive Group, Inc. INVE +7.07% (frankfurt:INV) is focused on building the world's signature company in Secure ID. The company's products, software, systems and services address the markets for identity management, physical and logical access control, NFC and a host of RFID-enabled applications for customers in the government, enterprise, consumer, education, healthcare and transportation sectors. Identive's mission is to build a lasting business of scale and technology based on a combination of strong technology-driven organic growth and disciplined acquisitive expansion. For additional info visit: www.identive-group.com .
TouchSecure is a registered trademark of idOnDemand, a business unit of Identive Group, Inc. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
The Identive Group, Inc. logo is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=8072
This news release was distributed by GlobeNewswire, www.globenewswire.com

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NXP Semiconductors to Present Investor Strategy Seminar: Authenticating Identity, Securing Transactions, Beyond the NFC Growth Story


SOURCE: NXP Semiconductors
March 26, 2012 08:13 ET

EINDHOVEN, THE NETHERLANDS--(Marketwire - Mar 26, 2012) - NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) today announced the following investor seminar to be held in New York City:
Name:
Authenticating Identity, Securing Transactions, Beyond the NFC Growth Story
Date:
March 29, 2012
Time:
1:00PM to 4:00PM EDT
Location:
Sentry Center
730 Third Avenue
NYC New York
Senior management of the NXP Identification business unit will provide an in-depth discussion of the historic and potential future growth drivers of its business. Areas of discussion will included business drivers of its Core business (eGovernment, Banking, Automatic Faire Collection, Tagging and POS Infrastructure), Emerging business (Mobile Transactions, and Authentication) and fundamental technology differentiators.
To confirm your attendance, please complete the on-line RSVP at the following registration page: Click here to confirm your attendance. Interested parties may also listen to a live audio webcast of this event, available on NXP's website at www.nxp.com/investor. A replay of the webcast will be made available within 24 hours of the presentation, and will be accessible for 3 months thereafter.
About NXP Semiconductors NXP Semiconductors N.V. (NASDAQ: NXPI) provides High Performance Mixed Signal and Standard Product solutions that leverage its leading RF, Analog, Power Management, Interface, Security and Digital Processing expertise. These innovations are used in a wide range of automotive, identification, wireless infrastructure, lighting, industrial, mobile, consumer and computing applications. A global semiconductor company with operations in more than 25 countries, NXP posted revenue of $4.2 billion in 2011. Additional information can be found by visiting www.nxp.com.
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Monitise to Acquire Clairmail for $173m


March 26, 2012 02:05 ET

Clairmail to Be Acquired by Monitise

Acquisition Unites Mobile Money Leaders to Power a New Generation of Global Financial Institutions and Consumers Through a Comprehensive Set of Mobile Banking, Payment and Commerce Solutions
SAN RAFAEL, CA--(Marketwire - Mar 26, 2012) - Clairmail, Inc., a leading North American mobile banking and payments provider, today announced that it has entered into a definitive acquisition agreement with Monitise plc (LSE: MONI.L), the technology and services company delivering mobile money networks worldwide. Monitise will acquire Clairmail for $173 million, pending regulatory and shareholder approvals.
Through the acquisition, Monitise will further enhance its position as the global leader in the fast expanding market for mobile money, spanning banking, payments and commerce.
The combined entity will encompass 13 million registered consumers across four continents. Clairmail and Monitise process billions of transactions a year and more than $10 billion of payments and transfers on a current weekly annualized basis.
On completion of the acquisition, the combined businesses will provide mobile money services to the widest possible range of financial institutions in the US. A third of the top 50 North American financial institutions (including 8 of the top 13) have chosen the companies' services alongside hundreds of smaller and medium sized financial institutions customers.
"Clairmail is an undisputed mobile banking leader with a strong roster of financial institutions of all sizes, having been chosen by more than a third of the top 50 North American banks to provide innovative mobile solutions to their customers," said Alastair Lukies, Monitise Group CEO. "Clairmail shares Monitise's customer-centric approach and dedication to bringing the best possible mobile experience and technology through constant innovation and a focus on delivering bank-grade mobile services to their customers. This deal is transformational for our customers, our team, our shareholders and our company. It is a compelling combination and great news for all those wanting to offer bank-grade mobile money services to billions of consumers, not only in the US but worldwide."
The acquisition further enhances Monitise's mobile money reach into North America through Clairmail's direct sales channel and deep relationships with leading financial institutions. For Clairmail, the acquisition brings the potential to expand the company's award-winning mobile banking technology to new customers across new markets. The acquisition provides a step change in growth potential for Monitise through direct sales in the US driven by Clairmail's mobile banking team and expertise. This, combined with Monitise's existing and unmatched strategic partnerships with Visa Inc. and FIS, provides the enlarged group with a leading position in the US and three commanding routes to market.
New and current customers of both companies will benefit from the balanced deployment models of on-premise and hosted mobile banking, payments and commerce products, providing a variety of options in the deployment and customization process. The suite of Clairmail products will be maintained and enhanced with both companies enriching each other's mobile offerings.
"This acquisition validates the vision behind both companies' strategies in the exploding mobile money market where Monitise has established a clear global leadership position," said Pete Daffern, Clairmail CEO. "Both companies have incredible synergy and are dedicated to offering bank-grade services that empower consumers to bank, pay and shop across any mobile device. I could not be more proud of the Clairmail team and its accomplishments since founding in 2004, and look forward to working with the seasoned team behind Monitise to continue innovating and pushing the boundaries of mobile banking, payments and commerce worldwide."
Pete Daffern will remain in his role as Head of the Clairmail business and will also join the Group Executive Board of Monitise, bringing his substantial experience and expertise to bear across the Group growth strategy.
About Clairmail, Inc.Clairmail is a leading provider of mobile banking and payment solutions to the North American and European markets. Through an enterprise-wide technology platform and family of solutions, the company helps its Financial Institution (FI) customers capitalize on the benefits of mobile customer interaction across all lines of business. Clairmail works with forward-thinking institutions of all sizes to deliver innovative solutions via the mobile channel that improve customer acquisition and retention, reduce costs, mitigate security risks and generate new revenue opportunities. Founded in 2004, Clairmail is headquartered in San Rafael, CA and London. For more information call +1 (415) 526-7000 www.clairmail.com.
About Monitise GroupMonitise plc (LSE: MONI.L) is a technology and services company delivering mobile banking, payments and commerce networks worldwide with the proven technology and expertise to enable financial institutions and other service providers to offer a wide range of services to their customers in developed and emerging markets.
With live services in the UK, the US, India and Africa, the company is working with international partners to extend trusted and secure mobile banking, payment and commerce services in territories worldwide, including Europe, Asia Pacific and Latin America. Monitise has strategic partnerships with Visa Inc., Visa Europe, RBS Group and FIS. Other leading partners and clients include HSBC, Lloyds Banking Group, First Direct, U.S. Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, Travelex, Vocalink, Vodafone, Orange, O2, T-Mobile, 3 UK, Research In Motion, Best Buy Europe, The Carphone Warehouse, First Eastern, Astra International, JETCO and PCCW mobile.
More information is available at www.monitisegroup.com.
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