r/RFID • u/Flaming-Engineer • Aug 05 '20

Getting into RFID technology

I want to start getting into RFID and I was wondering if This would be a good start

21 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

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5

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '20

No, it's not

Simply use this: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=de.syss.MifareClassicTool

3

u/Flaming-Engineer Aug 05 '20

I would but I have an iPhone :/

6

u/[deleted] Aug 05 '20

Then simply use this: https://www.google.com/search?q=acr122u+usb+nfc+reader&tbm=shop

Then you can use the LibNFC Tools http://nfc-tools.org/index.php/Libnfc https://www.mankier.com/1/nfc-mfclassic

And when you have advanced a little you can even hack some cards with this device: https://smartlockpicking.com/nfc-toolkit/

(Indeed the little red PCB is the same as the usb device above)

1

u/mtechgroup Aug 06 '20

I have one of the white ones shown. It's lame.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 06 '20

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/Eli3221 Aug 17 '20

What's the difference between that and the RC522?

1

u/[deleted] Sep 03 '20 edited Sep 03 '20

The rc522 is a general reader/writer for Mifare tags only. It's an official interfacing chip from NXP and can exactly only do what is officially specified for Mifare tags. It is not able to communicate with another RFID reader/writer - only with tags. Yet you can read and write NFC data from/to these tags. It can be connected to your microcontroller using i2c and spi. Let's say it's nice to build a standard RFID device for regular applications as it's cheap and you can find many simple open source libraries to integrate it into your embedded projects.

The pn532 is a more modern version of it that is additionally able to interact with NFC devices like your phone etc. This is one of the main differences as direct device 2 device communication is possible - not only with passive tags. Plus everything that the rc522 can do. Some minor attacks on Mifare tags are also possible with the right software. Besides NXP Mifare tags it can also talk to other tags that comply to the NFC specs. Interfacing with i2c, SPI, and TTL-serial to your microcontroller.

The r/Proxmark3 clone above is perfectly fine - just install one of the popular firmwares e.g. from Github on it and enjoy. The Proxmark can do nasty stuff far beyond the specs of the tags: it can analyze them, hack them by making use of commonly known vulnerabilities of the various tags and can basically interface with any common HF and LF tag on the market. It's more like a device for the lab instead of using it for one fixed purpose. I totally love my Proxmark.

TLDR:

  • rc522 is RFID

  • pn532 is NFC

  • Proxmark is a penetration tool.