What Is A Mifare Card

Mifare Cards are a proprietary technology card which is fundamentally a type of contactless smart card or proximity card. There are various forms of Mifare cards in use today - here are the chief types.

MIFARE Classic (Standard)
The MIFARE Classic card is fundamentally just a memory storage mechanism, where the memory is divided into segments and blocks with discreet security mechanisms for permission control. They are ASIC based and have limited computational potential. Thanks to their reliability and reduced cost, those cards are widely used for electronic wallet, admittance control, corporate ID cards, transportation or stadium ticketing.
The MIFARE Classic 1K offers 1024 bytes of data storage, split into 16 sectors; each sector is shielded by two different keys, called An and B. They can be programmed for operations like reading, writing, augmenting value blocks, etc.. MIFARE Classic 4K offers 4096 bytes split into forty sectors, of which 32 are identical size as in the 1K with eight additional that are quadruple size sectors. MIFARE Classic mini offers 320 bytes divided into five sectors. For each of these card types, 16 bytes per sector are reserved for the keys and access conditions and can not usually be used for user data. Also, the very first 16 bytes hold the serial number of the card and definite other manufacturer data and are read only. That brings the net storage capacity of these cards down to 752 bytes for Classic 1k, 3440 bytes for Classic 4k, and 224 bytes for Mini.
The simplicity of the basic cards means that they are inexpensive, which is largely the reason for their achievement in large-scale deployments, such as the Oyster card.

MIFARE Ultralight
The MIFARE Ultralight has only 512 bits of memory (i.e. 64 bytes), without cryptographic safety. The memory is provided in 16 pages of 4 bytes.
This card is so cheap it is often used for disposable tickets for events such as the Football World Cup 2006.

MIFARE Ultralight C
Introduced at CarteS 2008, MIFARE Ultralight C is part NXP's low-cost MIFARE offering (disposable ticket). With Triple DES, MIFARE Ultralight C uses an extensively adopted benchmark, enabling clear amalgamation in current infrastructures. The integrated Triple DES authentication provides an effectual counteractant against counterfeit of tickets (ticket cloning).
Key applications for MIFARE Ultralight C are Public Transportation, Event Ticketing, Loyalty and NFC Forum Tag Type 2.

MIFARE DESFire
The MIFARE DESFire is another NXP microprocessor platform, modelled on a similar core as the MIFARE ProX/SmartMX, with more hardware and software security features than the standard MIFARE Classic chips. It is sold already programmed with a common purpose software (the DESFire operating system) that allows for a classic directory structure with files, similar to what is usually found on smart cards. DESFire cards are sold on four styles. One with Triple-DES only and 4Kbyte of storage and three with AES having storage capacity of 2, 4 and 8 KB (see DESFire EV1). The AES variants also have supplementary security features, i.e. CMAC. It is utilizing a standards compliant (ISO/IEC 14443-4) protocol.[9] The card is established on a 8051 processor with Triple DES and AES crypto accelerator, making really accelerated transactions attainable.
The maximum read/write range between card and reader is 10 cm (4 inches), but exact distance depends on the field power caused by the reader and its antenna size.

MIFARE DESFire EV1
(previously called DESFire8)
New evolution of DESFire card, broadly backwards compatible. Available with 2KB, 4 KB and 8KB NV-Memory.
DESFire EV1 was publicly announced in November 2006.

MIFARE Plus
MIFARE Plus is a substitute card for the MIFARE Classic. It provides an easy upgrade of existing infrastructures toward high security. The applicative data administration is identical to the MIFARE Classic, nevertheless the security management requires the modification of the installed reader base.
It differs from DESFire EV1 in not being as flexible as the latter.