Value-Add Contactless Spec Published
The Smart Payment Association has published the first version of its contactless card multi-application data storage specifications. The announcement was made by the interoperability standards body at the Cartes exhibition in Paris.
The Association says the specifications define how to securely store and manage data for value-added applications on a contactless smart card. It drew up the specifications in response to the recent massive rollout of contactless payment cards around the world. Over 10 million contactless cards have been issued in the U.S. alone, according to Datamonitor. "With the dramatic growth of this market, the need arose to add new value-added applications, such as ticketing, access control, loyalty or personal data storage to a contactless card," the Association says in a statement. "The lack of standards is perceived as a threat to interoperability and led us to develop this new set of specifications." The Association says the objective in developing the specification has been to keep it simple and easy to implement on contactless cards at a low cost, while providing appropriate security. Whenever possible, existing standards were employed, it says. Depending on the application, three profiles have been defined. "Level A provides simple, read-only data storage," the Association says. "Level B offers read-write data management with session authentication and level C provides more complex management including dynamic data creation and authentication methods. An optional level D provides full dynamic, multi-issuer, data repository management." The Association's members are the world's four largest smart card manufacturers, Gemalto, Giesecke & Devrient, Oberthur Card Systems and Sagem Orga. Related Links
www.smartpaymentassociation.org
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