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Posts Tagged: NFC

Jordand

In today’s Quick Take of This Week in Development, Jordan takes time out of his birthday celebration to cover a couple stories of interest from the XDA Portal. Giving a nod to the most important women in anyone’s life, Jordan discussed the Top Five Apps for the Hard Working Mom. A mother is the woman who brought you into this world, and according to my mother, is the one woman who can take you out of it.

Jordan then talks about managing files with AROMA file manager and the addition of the NFC Hardware Hacking forum. Finally, Jordan mentions our new Pro Tip series on XDA TV. All in all, this is a video you don’t want to miss!

READ ON »

NFC

NFC lends itself to some pretty interesting and amazing possibilities. With NFC-based task automation and well-publicized mobile payment options, NFC may well become a central component in your future (or current) smartphone. In fact, more and more new phones are coming with the technology, and for those lucky enough to have it, you are probably waiting for the next killer app for the nascent platform.

Maybe you’re an app developer thinking about incorporating NFC into your next application, or perhaps you’re trying to hack NFC onto previously unsupported devices and unsupported carriers. Whatever the situation, we realize that NFC hacking is important. As such, we are creating a new forum for NFC Hacking that will serve as an extension to our Hardware Hacking forum.

What are you waiting for? Head over to our new NFC Hacking forum to get in on the discussion and start some new development projects!

NFC

AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note users might want to have a look at this. With all the interesting stuff going on with NFC (Near Field Communication), from using Google Wallet to make real-life purchases with your phone to contact sharing and even initializing multiplayer games, it’d be a shame to have a NFC chip in your device and not be able to use it. Some of the more notable devices that have the NFC chip include the Samsung Galaxy S II, the Motorola Droid RAZR, and the HTC Amaze 4G.

The Korean version of the Galaxy Note has an activated NFC chip. Now, thanks to XDA Forum Member fox689, AT&T Note users can enable the NFC chip on their own devices. From the original thread:

 This flash contains an xml permissions file and the Tag.apk from the Canadian ROMs.

Once you’ve flashed this you will have the option to turn on NFC in Wireless Settings as well as be able to install NFC apps from the Play Market.

If you’d like to give it a shot on your Note, check the original thread for download links and install directions. You will have to flash this mod through recovery, so be sure to make a full backup of your device and read all instructions before you jump in.

GoogleWalletSecurity

Google Wallet is all over the headlines lately, first with its release on the Verizon network with the Galaxy Nexus and then with its release on the AT&T network with the Samsung Galaxy S II. Sprint and T-Mobile users have even been able to sideload the Google Wallet app on their respective variants of the Nexus S.

The app itself relies on the devices NFC chip to communicate with non-contact payment stations, like Mastercard’s PayPass. Google Wallet stores your credit card information allowing you to make in-store purchases with a swipe of your phone. Since the information on the chip can be accessed without direct contact several security measures were put in place to protect users.  A four digit PIN is required to make purchases with the app, adding an additional layer of security. XDA Member and zvelo employee miasma  discovered a flaw in the PIN system, allowing  retrieval of credit card information. viaForensics, a company specializing in proactive forensic security (software hacking with the goal of reporting flaws and protecting users), also helped to demonstrate the exploit, proving that the process could be repeated on other devices.

Multiple problem areas were identified but the biggest was in the encryption of the PIN. Using SHA256 hex encoding, the PIN is secured in the app data. Knowing the PIN is 4 digits, viaForensics’ calculations show a brute-force would take, at-most, calculating 10,000 SHA256 hashes. This takes little effort and both miasma and Google have been able to compromise the PIN security in private tests.

Rooted users take note; the security flaw can only be exploited on phones with root privileges. Google has acknowledged the flaw and they are working on a fix. In order to preform this attack a hacker would have to have physical access to your phone, so until a fix is published users can assure their safety by keeping their device within reach. As always, for the security of your phone, stay up to date with the latest software. Don’t forget to keep your phone secure with a lockscreen pattern, PIN or password (or face unlock if your device supports it).

To see the exploit in action, check out the video here. The original thread announcing the vulnerabilities can be found here. Google is working with the banks and card companies involved to make Google Wallet more secure and to patch this security flaw, so hopefully we’ll see some updates soon. Until then, keep those NFC enabled phones within reach at all times!

Google Wallet
XDA forum members have noted that the AT&T Android Marketplace does, in fact, have the Google Wallet app available for download. Previously available only to Verizon users with NFC capable phones, the app is already in high demand. Now AT&T users with NFC capable phones (looking at the Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket and Galaxy Nexus) can start using Google Wallet to make purchases.
An APK version of the Google Wallet app modified for any NFC capable phone is already available but installing it requires a rooted device. Additionally many users may prefer to have the Market version to ensure they have the latest updates installed. If you already sideloaded the APK to your device, be sure to uninstall it completely before downloading the version from the Market.
T-Mobile users can also attempt to install the app to their capable device. XDA Senior Member predation has confirmed  here that the install is possible via WiFi with an AT&T SIM Card in the device. Other users have reported success by using a workaround laid out here:
  1. Go to https://market.android.com/search?q=google+wallet on your NFC capable device.
  2. Open the page in the browser, not the Market. If the Market opens automatically you must reset your program defaults.
  3. Click the Google Wallet icon, but this time open it using the Market app.
  4. Tap install.

If you have a phone with an NFC chip and aren’t using Google Wallet, now’s your chance. Check out this thread for reports of working NFC payment locations.

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