This product is not recommended for new designs. Instead, we recommend to use NXP’s MIFARE DESFire Light.

The MIFARE® DESFire® EV1 256B card offers the same security and file creation features as the higher memory family members. This addresses the needs of account based systems and environments requiring only a limited set of applications, such as access control management, public transport ticketing, loyalty schemes, and closed-loop payment.

All MIFARE DESFire products are based on open global standards for both air interface and implemented cryptographic methods. It is compliant to all 4 levels of ISO/IEC 14443A and uses optional ISO/IEC 7816-4 commands, features an on-chip backup management system and mutual three-pass authentication as well as encrypted communication.

The DESFire EV1 256B is fully compatible to all other members of the MIFARE DESFire EV1 family, offering the same fast and highly secure data transmission, and is fully interoperable with existing MIFARE DESFire infrastructure.

Featuring an on-chip backup management system and the mutual three pass authentication, a MIFARE DESFire EV1 product-based smart card can hold up to 28 different applications and 32 files per application. The size of each file is defined at the moment of its creation, provides an automatic anti-tear mechanism for all file types, guaranteeing transaction-oriented data integrity, making MIFARE DESFire EV1 a truly flexible and convenient product.

Additionally, an automatic anti-tear mechanism is available for all file types, which guarantees transaction oriented data integrity. With MIFARE DESFire EV1, data transfer rates up to 848 Kbit/s can be achieved, making fast data processing possible.

The main characteristics of the MIFARE DESFire family are denoted by the name “DESFire”: “DES” indicates the high level of security using a hardware crypto coprocessor for either 3DES or AES-based data processing. “Fire” indicates its outstanding position as a fast, innovative, and highly reliable IC ideally suited to enable a wide variety of different applications.

MIFARE DESFire EV1 brings many benefits to end users. Card holders can experience convenient contactless ticketing while also having the possibility to use the same device for related applications such as payment at vending machines, access control or event ticketing.

In other words, the MIFARE DESFire EV1 IC solution offers enhanced consumer-friendly system design, in combination with security and reliability.

DESFire’s are available in PVC and Composite PET/PVC card construction. The DESFire 256B card is exceptionally durable and can accept an embeddable SAM card for logical access and biometric ID systems.