News

Collis develops NFC two-factor chip application

May 13, 2008

LEIDEN, Netherlands — Collis, a payment-processing company based in the Netherlands, has developed what it calls its near-field-communication two-factor asymmetrical chip-authentication software.

The 2ACA application enables third-party authentication based on standard EMV implementations. Collis has enhanced this technology by integrating 2ACA into the contactless payment-card protocols and the NFC protocol.

This authentication scheme, called NFC-2ACA, or NFC two-factor asymmetrical chip authentication, will allow banks and mobile-network operators to dramatically increase the customer value of their standard contactless products, such as EMV cards, NFC-capable mobile phones and SIM cards. Functionality is offered for single sign-on corporate networks, secure building access, strong authentication, e-mail signing and remote network access using the security benefits of EMV, like asymmetrical cryptography.

Previous authentication methods that were based on EMV had the weakness of using symmetrical cryptography, which according to the release, limits the security of the system because of its inability to authenticate to a third party — something that is possible with asymmetrical authentication.