NFC PKI Smart-Cards (e.g. PKCS#11)

[GekkeMember]

I was wondering if the FloJack would also enable reading PKI Smart Cards over RFID, such as the various dual-interface smart cards that are out there.

I know there is no app for them, but would the SDK support building such an app? I often use SSH with my keys on a Smart Card, and it would be great if I could make an SSH app that would work that way as well (as opposed to storing the key on the iPad). It’ll probably mean having to include OpenSC in some form though.. And I’m not sure if the FloJack would support that.

• This topic was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by  Gekke.
• This topic was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by  Gekke.
• This topic was modified 11 years, 4 months ago by  Gekke.

[RichardKeymaster]

Hello, the FloJack supports ISO14443A/B and ISO15693 which are the interfaces used by contactless (rfid) smartcards. With that said, there are many higher level protocols you will need to implement in order to interface with PKI smartcards. The FloJack SDK gives you read and write access to the TRF7970, which is the NFC transceiver that we use in the FloJack.  Timing can be an issue with trying to implement the smartcard protocols from an iOS app since the data rates across the audio connector are limited to a couple hundred bytes a second.  Some smartcards won’t allow that sort of latency so you will have to check that.

I don’t want to discourage you as I believe your described use case is compelling.  The Flomies are committed to offering what guidance and support we can to make these applications possible on iOS devices.  The FloJack was built with that in mind and is why our iOS SDK is free and open sourced.  We’re even willing to consider adding firmware development access from the SDK for extra flexibility but that will require a license fee given the higher support costs and intellectual property exposed.

I hope that helps.  Let us know if you have more questions…

[GekkeMember]

Thanks for the reply!

It sounds difficult indeed, especially with the speed limitation. But it’s still worth trying I think. There aren’t actually that many PKI smartcards that support NFC but if there’s one that works that would be enough.

I only develop free apps as a hobby, not professionally, so I won’t have any budget for firmware modifications 🙂 But I’ll give it a try once the FloJack is out.

[RichardKeymaster]

Awesome, keep us posted on your progress.  We think this is a valuable direction to go in with a lot of upside potential.

 

[RichardKeymaster]

Hey Gekke, I wanted to let you know that the FloJack v2 is currently shipping on our site and it includes on-board PKI cryptography. We’re working on some cool applications for some customers so let us know if you have any trouble getting your apps up and running.

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