NFC IDs + Arduino - NFC Hacking

I have a project (NFC Vending machine) based on Arduino which calls a function called nfc.readPassiveTargetID(PN532_MIFARE_ISO14443A)
Which returns a simple UID of the device that is tapped to the NFC antenna. This is used to identify the user, display their name and account balance, relay to coin acceptor and then saving the new balance back to an SD card.
This application works perfectly with my Nexus 4, a friend's stock Nexus 4, as well as any NFC Tag.
When I try using a new Galaxy S4 however, the application finds an ID from it, however it CHANGES every time it's scanned? Does anyone have any idea how to stop this from happening? I'm not opposed to writing an app if I can write an app that stops this from happening (some function in code that can set the UID to a static unchanging value, maybe using wifi mac address as a base)?
When I try scanning a co-worker's Droid DNA, NOTHING happens. NFC is on, beam seems to work, but nothing happens. I'm wondering if I install an app that reads/writes cards and tell it to perform an activity maybe that will 'wake up' the nfc chip making it active and forcing it to spit out an ID?
I have a feeling I'll have to use an "if id is not found, try ndef" and write an app that can send an ndef message that is the wifi mac address (so it'll be unique), though I haven't done much in the way of app development, though I'm very familiar with playing with all kinds of nooks and crannies in the filesystem to do fun things in android. I'm not opposed to learning, and have been trying, just not too familiar with java which certainly doesn't help... In any event, I'll be diving in and punishing myself with more hours of reading soon...
I realize this is a rather unique project and I may not find a resolution here but any ideas anyone can offer would be a big help. In the meantime I'll continue reading up on the various actions that are available to the programmer regarding nfc in the android sdk...
Thanks for any suggestions!
EDIT: I forgot to add, while I realize NDEF is an option (one that will require me learning a fair bit), it adds a great degree of difficulty in working with Arduino, which doesn't seem to have much in the way of libraries/code for handling NDEF, particularly peer-to-peer...

Related

Hacking Android phones through NFC

Possibly a bit of a dangerous thing to ask about, but I heard about a researcher named Charlie Miller uncovering an exploit through which he could do some fancy hacking on Android phones just by having them scan a NFC tag. I am interested in these hacks, using the old saying "it's not a bug, it's a feature", it could not only be used to perform malicious activities, but also enhance the possibilities of NFC. I seek to use this enhancement. My biggest idea in mind yet is use a tag to make a phone connect to wifi. It may seem like a simple idea, but you need additional software just to make the phone connect to wifi, since giving the command to connect is not standardized. This does impede the potential of NFC a bit, and me being the sort of person who keeps on messing around with his phone ROMs (believe me, my S3's flash count is skyrocketing), computer hardware and Linux distro's because it is never good enough simply can't just leave untweaked hardware and unremoved limitations alone.
There should be a command to turn wifi on? That's the closest you can probably do without installing software
x10man
As far as I know, officially the command has to be launched from an app that has the permissions to do so. As far as I know a bit of hacking is required to do it in another way.

[Q] How to write an app

Ok its not note2 specific just that I have a note 2....
I need to create an app that can read a text, send a text, and read/write a file from an external usb stick, it sounds easy but.....
So I'm open to suggestions as to what IDE/toolchain I should be aiming at, I have wrote ''an app'' that does this, but its actually in picbasic and runs on a pic 18f2550 with a serial modem and internal flash
I want to do away with the pic/modem and just an android phone.
One other thing, the file on the usb stick, the usb stick isnt, its actually a controller for other hw devices, i just make the controller appear to usb as mass storage as that makes a simple text file an easy way for it to communicate, if its possible...I'd sooner make the controller appear as a serial coms device like the 9600 8n1 standard but I dont know if i could get away with that via OTG where as I know OTG can read write a text file..
I haven't started playing with it yet, but you might find Intellij Idea to be a tool you can learn to use.
For Open Source Projects it's free.
Grant Barker said:
I haven't started playing with it yet, but you might find Intellij Idea to be a tool you can learn to use.
For Open Source Projects it's free.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks, I'm not too bothered what I write it in anything from C to zx81basic would do the job, its just getting it into a form the phone can execute
..
Just wondering if you tried using google for your question.
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I would love to help you, but help yourself first: ask a better question
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
If I were you, I would check out Tasker on the play store. Theres a huge following with tons of available and customizeable profiles.
If you haven't heard of it, it's an extremely powerful app that allows you to write (or apply) various profiles to automate almost anything, whether youre a beginner or advanced user.
http://tasker.dinglisch.net
spycedtx said:
Just wondering if you tried using google for your question.
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I would love to help you, but help yourself first: ask a better question
http://www.catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I half agree, but for a generic question like this, it's much more effective to ask in a community of mobile enthusiasts who might have a little more insight. Imo.
Sent from my SGH-T889 using Tapatalk 2
Thanks guys, I just had a look at app inventor and it made me want to cry...
I'm used to c/basic/asm (dare I say cobol, well i am 46....) so anything drag and drop I find infuriating/restrictive/non intuative, even tough there supposed to simple to use, I find them not...
you will no doubt be aware of such apps as prey, find my droid, wavesecure, they all can read an incoming text for a keyword and if present perform an action, thats similar to what i am trying to achive, well its part of it etc
easiest way to simplify this is imagine a lighthouse for boats, I need to be able to send a message to my phone at the top of a lighthouse, to turn the light on. I also need to be able to query the light status.
now doing this with a arduino/pic and a bag of relays was no biggy, what was the issue was the phone was connected via its connector running serial data at 9600 and modem AT protocols from the 1970's....
this all worked fine, 100% working, but the phones had the issue that after a random amount of days they would stop responding to commands, but would say 'ok' to every command given...
so replaced with a modem module and a seperate 2 line lcd, this worked fine, but put the cost up....
so decided that as old android phones with damaged screens are often very cheap, and most support OTG, the way is open to try doing this once again, using the phone to receive a text, reply to the text, and control the light by writing out a txt file to the ''usb mass storage stick'' thats simply light.txt and is a txt file containing the word 'on' 'off' or 'status'
The pic controller which is happy to pretend to be USB storage, and look for this file, and take the required action, if it sees 'on' or 'off' it simply toggles a pin to on or off, if its 'status' it sense the light, and creates a file of answer.txt with 'yes' or 'no' as content
the app can look for the answer.txt, and depending on it being 'yes' or 'no', send a replay text with 'ok' or 'bring a spare bulb'
of course I dont have a lighthouse, but you see what i'm trying to achive with an android phone over the old working but unreliable T68i (I have a few of them about a dozen left I think, all have same firmware bug)
Wow. I hope you're not making anything dangerous. SMS text `cancel'. SMS text `bang'.
Seriously though, I'm 44. So respect to any middle-aged dudes in the house. :good:
Grant Barker said:
Wow. I hope you're not making anything dangerous. SMS text `cancel'. SMS text `bang'.
Seriously though, I'm 44. So respect to any middle-aged dudes in the house. :good:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Lol no its a replacement for a circuit that of all things originally started with a motorola startac and a relay across button '5' to dial help
I dont want to be too open about the 'final design' as I want to present it to the forum as a working prototype that others can copy/use and dont want beating to the finish etc.
I've put many years of work into this on and off, even bought 20 2nd hand phones for the 'beta test' which then 'cancelled' due to the phones not being able to be left on 24/7 without locking up, and i killed a few making them 'battery free' and some more making a reboot circuit that just pulled power which they didnt like happening too often, so I abandoned it till now, I now think I'm onto a winner with the new 'design'

Using NFC to unlock Nexus7

At work I have access to a Nexus 7 which is shared between 7 members of our team.
I would like to be able to issue each potential user a uniquely-coded NFC keyfob that they can use to unlock the Nexus' screen and maybe set it up in particular ways.
Is this even possible? I know I can run apps once the device is unlocked, but I need to use NFC to get into it in the first place.
Yea I would say it is possible. The N7 supports various user profiles. You should be able to use Tasker to read the UID from each Tag and log into a specific profile.
You will need a custom rom/kernel because by default, NFC is off when the screen is off. A custom kernel allows NFC on all the time which can start taking commands and wake up.
I haven't messed with Tasker or Profiles. I would say it would just be a matter of logic "Read NFC and IF UID=1818181818181 then Load Profile 1" stuff.
I used NFC's coded with a URL with a unique ID to load a web page and pass the ID variable in to the server, which recorded your login and submissions. Pretty cool stuff. Just make sure you get good NFC's because the cheap ones aren't as powerful and becomes a chore trying to scan it.
The sweet spot seems to be the "N" of Nexus on the back.
Double post

SimonsVoss keycard

I'm moving into a new appartment, this is the key for the building it is in.
It says Simonsvoss on it, its the name of the company.
You just have to hold it in front of the lock and it opens automatically.
I thought maybe it uses NFC and you can read out the key and also use your phone as a key.
I tried some NFC reader apps, but none of them got any signal.
I'm not sure if NFC works on my phone (i have a galaxy s3 with cyanogenmod 11 M6 installed).
Anyone knows if this thing even uses NFC?
I'm no expert but it was my understanding that nfc is Bluetooth and these fobs use some other radio signal
Sent from my Nexus 5 using XDA Free mobile app
There's a number of different reasons why your smartphone can't read it:
- it doesn't support that particular tag: it does happen, perhaps it works on a different frequency, or uses unknown protocols. There isn't much you can do about it.
- that key is not an nfc tag: it sounds unlikely to me, since the way you described how it works makes me think it is actually an nfc tag, but who knows.
- the cyanogenmod you installed doesn't support nfc: have you tried reading other tags with it? What kind of software are you using for reading it? Make sure you can successfully read other kinds of tags: if you happen to have Mifare Ultralight tags, you may use an app I developed a few days ago, UltraManager. if you have other kinds of tags (even the most recent passports have nfc tags embedded), apps like NFC TagInfo should do
- you have accidentally removed part of your nfc hardware accidentally: I know this sounds unlikely, and I would've never suggested it, but earlier today I talked to a guy who claimed he couldn't read any tags: turned out that he had changed his smartphone's battery with an unofficial one, and since that particular smartphone had the hardware on the battery, he obviously couldn't use nfc.
I know this thread is dead, but...Probably not NFC, since I can even scan and copy my Passport (hex codes of fingerprints and so on).
Would be to easy to break into a appartment secured like this
Sent from my GT-I9505 using XDA Premium 4 mobile app on OmegaRom v19
Radio Frequency
The Transponder is a radio transponder, it unlocks the lock by sending a radio frequency which cannot be cloned like traditional RFID ..
Simons-Voss stated this information on their website, in fact that was their main selling point is that the transponders cannot be cloned .. I know this thread is old and all, but I would be interested to know if anyone has figured out a way to hack these locks. I used them, so I am interested to know how their level of security is holding up after all these years ..

[Q] [Advice needed] Question about NFC vs. BLE beacon use case

I am working on a graduate student project potentially involving NFC and/or Bluetooth BLE technology. Details as follows:
Main idea: Create an onsite donation system to replace physical cash donation boxes, using mobile payment technology.
Example use case and user flow:
1) We'd set up one of our "boxes" in a local or regional park, or indoor space (where connectivity isn't an issue).
2) Users would have our app installed (a platform that charities/nonprofits would use).
3) User would see our physical "box", along with a call to action.
4) User would put phone on top of box, which would send info to the app, either via NFC or BLE (not sure which is better), which organization the donation is going to, along with some sort of message.
5) For the fun/experiential part: user could swipe up on phone in the app to donate 1 dollar at a time. App would prompt user to confirm total donation amount.
6) Once user has confirmed donation, the physical "box" responds with a confirmation, either via LED lights lighting up, some sort of sound, or some other sensory stimuli.
The piece I'm most unsure about tech-wise, is Step 6. My main question is, is there any way for the user's phone in this case to transmit a signal BACK to the NFC tag in the physical box after the donation is complete, which the tag could then take and somehow use to activate lights, a sound, etc.? From what I've gathered in my research thus far it seems like NFC is a cheap/easy way to handle the first part of the experience, where an NFC tag could be programmed to open the app and let it know of the box's location, but I'm not sure how to then have the app send a "donation confirmed" message back to the box to then trigger the sensory response. I've been reading up on NFC tech and Bluetooth beacon technology but it's been a bit confusing and tough to find an analogous use case.
Any insights/pointers here would be very much appreciated. Thank you!

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