Services & Solutions > Services > Card Migration Service 

Card Migration Guide

THINGS TO CONSIDER WHEN PLANNING A MIGRATION TO ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY CARDS
Yesterday's Card
About 40 years ago, the first known magnetic stripe cards were introduced to university students.  These magnetic stripe cards were used primarily for keeping track of their meal plans in the dining halls.  Until recently, the mag stripe was considered secure enough for this physical access, however,  mag stripes have no particular inherent security and are very easy to duplicate.
Securing Your Physical Environment
Recently, a new radio frequency chip, known as high frequency (13.56 MHz) “contactless smart cards” was introduced.  Contactless Smart Cards are used to open doors in much the same manner as Prox cards, Mifare, Legic and HID’s iCLASS . However, these chips provide a significantly more secure card-reader interface than the old Prox chips and their readers. 
Protecting Your IT Infrastructure 
Contact smart card - The crypto-processor in a contact chip can perform very high level encryption for producing digital signatures, encrypting e-mail and logging onto a network in  a very  secure manner. When combined with a PIN, this is the  highest level of token-based authentication available. Contact  smart  chips can also be embedded in many physical access   contactless cards.
Mobile Applications 
Mobile Authentication: Handheld devices are available that can read contactless smart cards.  They have varying durability levels depending on what environment you’ll be in and how many transactions you’ll make.

Mobile Credentials: Offer convenience to your cardholders by supplying a mobile credential on their phone.  An app is loaded to the phone, credential emailed and loaded to the phone allowing it to work the same way as your ID card.

Biometrics: Whether you require fingerprint, iris or palm vein, adding an additional layer of security is the best way to secure your cardholders.
​
How Do I Achieve This?
Recarding  Service - Replacing all of your organization’s cards in a relatively short period of time can be a daunting task. Distributing all the new cards is a project in itself, but having to print, encode and test all those cards prior to distribution can put a severe strain on the resources of the card office. ColorID’s Service Bureau has performed recarding services for institutions, large and small.  Learn More.
How Can ColorID Help?
With over 7,000 customers all over the world, ColorID has significant experience in helping organizations select, install and service their advanced technology identification systems.  
Click on the tabs below to learn more about ColorID's Card Migration Strategy. Also, don't forget to download our Migration Guide. 

Drag Drop Tab Content 1

YESTERDAY'S CARD
​Back in the middle of the twentieth century universities, corporations and other large institutions began to issue ID badges to the people who came in and out of their doors every day. The first cards were simple affairs with a name, a number, and sometimes a photo printed on a card, and wrapped in a plastic laminate layer. About 35 years ago, magnetic stripes had become a regular feature of credit cards and the first known magnetic stripe cards were introduced to university students.  These magnetic stripe cards were used primarily for keeping track of their meal plans in the dining halls. 

ID badges have become an important piece of the physical security architecture for institutions large and small. As the need for security has increased, so has the complexity of the technologies that each card carries. It is not unusual these days to see an ID with two magnetic stripes, a bar code and two integrated circuit chips with antennae built in. 

One of the challenges for those who issue and track ID badges, such as Security, Human Resources and IT personnel, has been to decide which technologies will make their cards most successful and cost-effective at their facility. In the days of flash passes, magnetic stripes and bar codes, this question usually answered itself. But now, with a multitude of chips available for cards, both contact and contactless, the decision has become more difficult. ​

Drag Drop Tab Content 2

SECURING YOUR PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENTS
Although ID badges were first used to reinforce visual security, it wasn’t long before they began to be used to open doors (physical access) and to record time and attendance. Following the lead of the hotel industry, the predominant technology used for physical access was the magnetic (mag)  stripe. Also used widely for credit cards, the mag stripe card is fairly inexpensive and easy to program.

Until recently, the mag stripe was considered secure enough for this physical access. Unfortunately, mag stripes have no particular inherent security and are very easy to duplicate. This is not considered a problem for the credit cards that we carry every day, because the credit card issuers (Visa, MasterCard) will not require us to pay for unauthorized purchases. This is a guarantee by the issuer and not a result of the security of the mag stripe. For the physical safety of an institution’s population however, the mag stripe is now known to be insufficient. A number of universities have found their names in the local or national newspapers after a student had “cloned” the mag stripe card of a prominent university official or fellow student, and breached the system.

About 20 years ago, Prox cards with radio frequency IC chips were introduced. Transmitting at 125 KHz, they provided a much higher level of security than mag stripes. Not as easy to clone as a mag stripe card, Prox cards have become vulnerable to attacks as their technology has aged. 

Recently, the Prox chip has been eclipsed by a new radio frequency chip, known as high frequency (13.56 MHz) “contactless smart cards”. Used to open doors in much the same manner as Prox cards, Mifare, Legic and HID’s iCLASS fall into this category. These chips provide a significantly more secure card-reader interface than the old Prox chips and their readers. Before the transmission of encrypted personal data, there is a challenge-and-response sequence of communications through which the card and reader verify that each other is trustworthy for this transaction. Data stored on the card is also encrypted. A significant benefit of contactless over mag stripe cards is that the cards are not dragged through swipe readers, which is very damaging to the surface of the card.

Drag Drop Tab Content 3

PROTECTING YOUR IT INFRASTRUCTURE
Our reliance on and familiarity with the internet has also made us aware of our vulnerability in a world where the bad guy is only a few clicks away from a very serious attack on our identity, finances or communication. In response to this, the smart card has become an important tool for our security. The chips on smart cards, whether contact or contactless, are small computers that are completely offline, when they are not plugged into a card reader. 

There are four levels of security that are commonly available for securing networks or PCs:

User name and password - Very convenient, flexible and inexpensive, but subject to user forgetfulness and compromised passwords. This system can be a burden on the IT help desk. 

Contactless smart cards - Securely present an ID number to a reader at the PC, in conjunction with a PIN. 

Contact smart card - The crypto-processor in a contact chip can perform very high level encryption for producing digital signatures, encrypting e-mail and logging onto a network in   a very  secure manner. When combined with a PIN, this is the  highest level of token-based authentication available. Contact  smart  chips can also be embedded in many physical access  contactless cards.

Biometrics - The user must present a part of their body to a scanner, for example, a fingerprint. This is authenticated   against a previously enrolled fingerprint. This is an effective   measure, but sometimes the performance can be unreliable, depending on the type of reader.

Drag Drop Tab Content 4

ADDITIONAL APPLICATIONS
Contactless and contact smart cards have storage space in their memory which can be used for much more than opening doors. The amount of memory available varies from 2,000 bits to 128,000 bytes, depending on the type of chip in your smart card. ID numbers, PINs, passwords, personal information and secret data for authenticating to a PC or network can be stored in these memory areas.

Many applications have been created to use this additional memory, such as Logical Access, discussed on page 3. There are two other uses which are in the “most-requested” category – Mobile Identification and Biometrics. Here  is how these work with contactless cards: 

Mobile - There are several handheld devices which can read contactless smart cards. Personal data can be stored in the chip or on the handheld so that when the card is presented to the reader for verification, personal data, including a photo, can be displayed on the screen. A record of the transaction can be created and stored by the handheld device for later retrieval when it is synchronized in its cradle with the host PC. Reports of time and attendance can be generated later from this collected data. 

Biometrics - There are many biometric access control devices that are designed to work with contactless smart cards, made by companies such as HID (Fingerprint), LG Electronics (Iris) and Ingersoll-Rand (Hand Geometry). A fingerprint or other biometric image need not be stored by these systems. Rather, a “template” is created by scanning the biometric feature (such as a fingerprint) and a formula is used to convert that scan into a number which is unique to the user. The resulting biometric template can be stored on a server on the network or on the contact or contactless smart card.

Applications around Town - There are many other possible uses for contactless smart cards. Transit systems around the world are installing fare collection systems based on contactless cards. The technology is now available to integrate ID badges with these systems. Contactless card readers could also replace magnetic stripe or bar code readers for time-and-attendance, copiers and vending machines.

Drag Drop Tab Content 5

HOW DO I ACHIEVE THIS?
Migrating  to  Contactless  Cards - The decision to move from a magnetic stripe or proximity card system depends on a number of factors, not least of which is your current investment in cards and infrastructure. In some situations, the move to contactless smart cards may not be financially justifiable, but in many cases there is no extra cost to either move directly to contactless or to at least start a migration in that direction that will give your organization more options in the future. Cards are available with contactless and prox chips, mag stripes and bar codes, or any combination of those elements, to fit your migration plans. Readers are available which can read different combinations of mag stripe, prox and contactless cards. 

Recarding  Service - Replacing all of your organization’s cards in a relatively short period of time can be a daunting task. Distributing all the new cards is a project in itself, but having to print, encode and test all those cards prior to distribution can put a severe strain on the resources of the card office. ColorID’s Service Bureau has performed re-carding services for institutions, large and small.  Learn more about Recarding.

The ColorID Service Bureau - Located in a secure suite within ColorID headquarters, the Service Bureau is equipped to personalize ID cards for projects large and small. We are experienced in handling a wide range of card technologies and produce exceptionally high quality results, while working with you to meet your deadline requirements. 

Drag Drop Tab Content 6

HOW CAN COLORID HELP?
With over 7,000 customers all over the world, ColorID has significant experience in helping organizations select, install and service their advanced technology identification systems.  

ColorID believes that to succeed we must offer:
​
TECHNOLOGICAL EXPERTISE
We are experts in all areas of technology that touch the ID card and the cardholder.

Advanced Technology Cards – ColorID has a thorough knowledge of both contactless and contact cards, having provided over a million in the past year.

Applications – ColorID offers the best applications to unlock the capabilities of your advanced technology cards, from securing your computers to iris-based biometrics.

Printing – ColorID has extensive experience with lithographic, digital and dye-sublimation printing on plastic cards. Over the past five years, ColorID has shipped over 10 million pre-printed cards.

​WORLD CLASS SUPPORT
ColorID backs up all of our products with the following support services:

Project Management – ColorID assigns a project manager to oversee your project using our own internal tracking and software tools. Last year, we managed over 300 projects.

Product Management – ColorID has dedicated product managers who ensure that our customers have the best product match for the challenges they face.

Engineering – ColorID backs all our products with a strong, factory- trained engineering staff that can support, repair or do training on your products. 

WE'RE HERE TO HELP.

ColorID has spent over 24 years serving the ID Industry with top-level sales and support to build the ultimate trust with every customer.