Glossary

There are many terms and accronyms used in the payment and AIDC industry. Here are just a few which we have listed, which may be helpful when considering a job descrption or preparing for your interview. If you have a term which we should include, please email us. Thank you.

Disclaimer: The information presented here is provided "as is". To the best of our knowledge it is correct, however, no liability can be accepted by PayNET Recruitment regarding any errors, omissions or inaccuracies. © 2007 PayNET Recruitment Ltd.

ABA
American Bankers Association - Trade Association of American Banks.

ABS
A material used for card manufacturing ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene) can be recycled but cannot be embossed. PVC is more commonly used. PVC can be embossed, but not recycled.

Access Control
A measure designed to restrict or control access to a particular system (PC) or building.
Usually using magnetic stripe cards, encoding on track two only.

Ack Nak
Acknowledgement character / negative acknowledgement handshaking.

AFC
Automatic Fare Collection on public transport networks.

AFIS    Biometric term for Automated Fingerprint ID System.

AFNOR
Association Francaise pour la Normalisation. The early French national standards body responsible for early ICC standards.

AIM
AIM is a global affiliation of trade associations, whose members are involved with automatic identification - barcodes, magnetic stripe, smart card and rf tagging. AIM stands for the Automatic Identification Manufacturers.

Algorithm
A set of steps to effect a desired calculation.

Alphanumeric
Character set consisting of both alphabetic (A-Z) and numeric (0-9) characters.

Amplitude
Magnetic encoding strength.

ANA
Article Numbering Association. The UK body responsible for administrating, developing and promoting EAN article numbering and barcode standards for goods and services.

ANSI
American National Standards Institute.

APACS
Association for Payment Clearing Services, based in London.

APDU
Application Protocol Data Unit.

ASCII
American Standard Code for Information Exchange, 128 alpha/control characters.

ASIC
Application Specific Integrated Circuit with special features designed to meet particular requirements for an application, extra security or communication benefits for example.

Asynchronous Logic
A logic system in which all operations are triggered by a free-running signal with successive stages or instructions being carried out by the completion of the operation of the preceding stage. Generally faster than Synchronous Logic. [Synchronous Logic]

Asymmetrical Encryption
Sometimes known as Public Key Encryption. This uses two keys, a public and a private key. The public key is distributed to all participants in the system. The private key remains a secret to an individual. Because the pair of keys operate like two halves of a code book, data encrypted with one half can be decoded with the other. On an ICC, the system operates as described - Each ICC and IFD has a secret AND public key assigned to it. When a card is inserted, the IFD generates a random number and sends it to the card. The card in turn, encrypts the random number using its secret key and sends it back to the IFD, together with it's public key. The IFD then decrypts the cards public key using the authority's public key. Using the public key of the card, the IFD can decrypt the number sent form the card and verify it with the original number sent. If the two numbers match, then authenticity is established. [RSA].

ATB
Automatic Ticketing & Boarding pass.

ATM
Automated Teller Machine (or Cashpoint Machine).

ATM
Asynchronous Transfer Mode - communications protocol.

ATR
Answer To Reset. The date string that an ICC sends to the reader immediately after being powered up and reset. This identifies the type of IC and the protocol type selection. Refer to ISO 7816-3 for a full explanation of ATR.

ATZ
Access Tracking Zone, part of a smart card memory for security keys. SC

Audit Trail
A sequential records of events.

Authorisation Terminal
A payment terminal which is used to check the bank card details either against a 'hot' list of stolen or lost cards which is updated every day or through an on-line telephone connection to the banking network. Once authorised, a card issuer will honour the transaction.

AVI
Automatic Vehicle Identification (using contactless smartcard for example).

BACS
Bankers Automated Clearing Services. Bacs is a not-for-profit, membership based, industry body, responsible for the processing of 5.5 billion payments a year. In June 2007, the number of transactions processed in one day hit an all time high of more than 83 million. 

Barcode Symbology

A linear or matrix 1D or 2D language used for storing numeric and alphanumeric data. Examples include EAN13, EAN8, Code 128, Code 39 and Aztec.

BASIC
An abbreviation for Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, developed during the mid-1960s. There are various 'types' of BASIC in use, all of which are very similar. Visual Basic is the recent replacement language, which is event driven.

Baud Rate
The number of transmission elements or rate of change in a signal per second in a serial
RS232 link.

Bidirectional
A reader that can read data swiped in either direction.

Biometric
A term given to the group of technologies which enable people to be recognised and identified by their individual characteristics. The main types of biometric systems currently available includes signature, fingerprint, hand geometry, retinal eye pattern, voice and keyboard rhythm. Signature and fingerprint would seem to have the best commercial advantages and are being considered for the UK retail banking system in the longer term.

Binary
A numbering system in which the numbers are expressed as various combinations of '1' and '0'. In computing terms, these can be represented electrically as 'on' of 'off'.

Bit
BInary digiT and can either be a '0' or '1'.

Bit Density
The number of bits per unit length recorded on a magnetic medium. ISO standards define 8.3 bpmm (bits per mm) or 210 bpi (bits per inch) for tracks one and three, and 3 bpmm or 75 bpi for track two.

BPI
Bits Per Inch. [Bit Density}.

Bureau Service
A service offered to card issuers, whereby printed cards can be embossed and the magnetic stripe encoded with personalised data and in some cases sent to the cardholder by post or a recorded delivery service. [personalisation]

Byte
A group of bits, usually eight, although this can be any number.

CADs
Card Acceptor Devices or smart card readers.

Card Personalisation
A service offered to card issuers, whereby printed cards can be embossed and the magnetic stripe encoded with personalised data and in some cases sent to the cardholder by post or a recorded delivery service. This particular term applies to smart cards.

CAFE Project
Conditional Access For Europe - an EC funded project to develop and introduce a new electronic purse to be used as a pan-European card for retail banking. The technology should be ready by late 1997.

Card ISO
A plastic card with the standard ISO size of 86mm x 54mm x 0.76mm. Usually described as an ISO 7810 card.

Card Issuer
The authority who is responsible for the personalisation and distribution of cards for a particular application.

CASCADE
Chip Architecture for Smart Cards and portable intelligent Devices. This was initiated by Gemplus (France). This is based on a 32 bit RISC processor.

CAT
Card Authorisation Terminal (Sometimes 'Card' is replaced with 'Credit').

CEN
Comite Europeen de Normalisation - European Committee for Standardisation.

Challenge Response
A means of authentication. One device replies in a predetermined way to a challenge or question from another device, thus proving authenticity. The two devices may be an ICC and Card Acceptor Device.

Checksum (CKS)
A control procedure used by card applications to verify the integrity of the card.

CICC
Contactless Integrated Circuit Cards. [Contactless Smart Card ].

Cipher Text
Encrypted data.

CLK
Clock Signal .

CLS
Card Load Signal.

Clock Signal (CLK)
Although the IC could contain its own clock circuit for driving the internal logic, in practice, most IC chips are supplied with a clock signal by the external interface / card reader. The ISO 7816 standard aligns with two widely used frequencies, 3.579545 MHz and 4.9152 MHz. Faster freqencies are being introduced. The former is more widely used, which is based on the NTSC colour sub carrier frequency.

Chip On Board (COB)
Chip On Board - This consists of a glass epoxy connector board on which the IC is bonded to the connectors. One stage in the manufacture of smart cards. There are three processes, WIRE BONDING, FLIP CHIP PROCESSING and TAP (Tape Automated Bonding). Basic process of manufacture involves cutting the silicon wafers with a diamond saw, to separate the ICs. Wire bonding is probably the most common in which a 25 micron gold or aluminium wire is bonded to the pads n the IC.

CKS
Checksum - a control procedure for checking the integrity of a card.

CMOS
Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor, the main advantages of which are a low power consumption and faster operation.
Logic zero =< 1.5 VDC and logic one => 3.5 VDC.

COB
Chip On Board.

COBOL
An abbreviation of COmmon Business Oriented Language. A high level software programming language developed in 1959 and still available on many computer systems.

Coercivity
Oe Coercive force is the measurement of the magnetization of a ferromagnetic material. The units of measurement are Oersted. Magnetic Stripe card can either be low (300 Oe) or high (2750 Oe or 4000 Oe) coercivity. Hico cards are more difficult to erase. [Oersted]. ISO7816 Part six applies.

Combi-Card
The term 'Combi-Card' describes a smart card which contains both contact and contactless ICC technology. The contactless facility may be used for access control while the contact technology is used for an electronic purse application.

Contact
The point of electrical contact between a smart card and its external interface device. CADs usually have their pin life quoted as number of contacts with a card, typically 100,000 to 500,000 insertion contacts before a new CAD is required.

Contact Smart Card
A smart card which communicates and receives its power from metal contacts on its surface. Whilst most cards have eight contacts, only five are currently used. ISO7816 is the most applicable standard for the card architecture.

Contactless Smart Card
A smart card which has no contacts. This type of card contains the same IC as a contact smart card, along with a second IC which is present to provide power and to handle the card's communication with the outside world. Communication is handled through inductive coupling, requiring the card to be held about 20mm away from the reader. See ISO standards.

Coupler
Another name for a smart card reader. [CAD, Reader].

Cryptography
The application of a mathematical theory which is applied to a string of data to change it beyond recognition. By reversing the theory, the original data can be obtained.

CP8
A smart card standard developed by Bull Information Systems in France, although now almost all replaced by the middle position ISO 7816 standard. The CP8 position is slightly above the middle position ISO 7816 location.

C/R
Card Reader

CVC
Card Verification Code (Mastercard security system).

CVV
Card Verification Value (VISA security system).



DEA
Data Encryption Algorithm.

DELA
Drexler European Licensees Association - Optical Card Standard.

DES
Data Encryption Standard, a private key encryption algorithm used extensively in the banking world. The key is agreed between both the sender and receiver. Data is encrypted using DES, sent and then decrypted back to the original data.

DF
Dedicated File. This is used to define a directory within an ICC, according to the ISO 7816-4 standard.

DIL
Dual In Line. SC

DLL
Dynamic Link Library. A library of commands used in computer programming, particularly developed for Microsoft Windows. [Library].

DRAM
Dynamic Random Access Memory, volatile computer memory.

DSA
Dynamic Signature Algorithm, based on a US Government standard.

DSS
Dynamic Signature Systems.

EASCIL
Easy Smart Card Interpretative Language, a language interpreter from Bull.

EBT
Electronic Benefits Transfer, a means of delivering government benefits to recipients electronically rather than by cheque or cash. Both magnetic stripe cards and smart cards are being considered for this application.

ECR
Electronic Cash Register

EDI
Electronic Data Interchange between two or more computer systems.

EEPROM (E2PROM)
Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory, sometimes called E2PROM. This memory is erasable by the user and can be rewritten many times - between 10,000 and 100,000 in a typical application. When the power is removed, data is retained.

EF
Elementary File. Used to define a file within an ICC filing system, according to the ISO 7816-4 standard.

EFT
Electronic Funds Transfer.

EFTPoS
Electronic Funds Transfer Point of Sale.

EID
External Interface Device.

Electronic Purse
A portable device (usually a smart card), which enables the use of cash to be replaced by electronic payment. The smart card can be reloaded with cash and includes some form of PIN security. Some examples were Proton (Belgium), Danmont (Denmark), Chipper (The Netherlands), Exact (Canada), Visa Cash (USA). Some of these cards are no longer issued following the introduction of EMV compliant cards and the Chip & Pin programme.

EMV
Europay, Mastercard, Visa. The three organisation have cooperated to produce the EMV payment standard for ICCs, to facilitate the use of this card technology worldwide for electronic purse, debit and credit card payments. A copy of the standard can be obtained from any one of the three organisations. EMV is an enhancement on the ISO 7816 standard.
EMV 3.1.1. was replaced by EMV 4.0 in 2002. Level '1' applies to the hardware only and level '2' to both hardware and transaction software. There have been many updates to this standard, Visa and MasterCard are a good reference for more information.

Encoder (1)
A device used for reading and writing data on a magnetic stripe card.

Encoder (2)

A device which produces a sinusoidal squave wave / clocking signal - this may be a spinning mechanical disk with photosensors or IC.

Encryption
The use of cryptographic algorithms to encode text data into a different format which cannot be read or decrypted by a third person. Person one and two agree a secret key which is used as the final component of the algorithm to encrypt and decrypt data.

EpoS
Electronic Point of Sale.

EPROM
Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory.

ETSI
European Telecommunications Standards Institute.

ETSI/GSM standard for mobile telephones.

ETSI/TE9 standard for multi-application smart cards. 

FAR

False Acceptance Rate in biometrics. Known as a type II error.

F2F
Two frequency recording, the method of magnetic data recording on a magnetic stripe. It's full term is 'two frequency phase recording' encoding a '1' bit as a flux transition between two clock transitions and a '0' bit as the absence of a flux transition between two clock transitions. During encoding, the north-south polarisation reverses itself periodically, known as 'flux changes'. Where a flux change happens at the end of every bit, this represents a logic '0'. Where a flux change appears in the middle of every bit, this represents a logic '1'. Groups of bits are decoded into characters, for example 10101 on track two is '5' with odd parity.

Firewall
A hardware and/or software system which is used between a public network (such as the internet) and a computer system to monitor and filter incoming and outgoing communications. It may also provide some security to the outside world.

FRAM
Ferroelectric Random Access Memory (non-volatile).

Friction Contact Reader
A smart card acceptor device in which the contact are fixed. The disadvantage is that the contacts have a shorter contact life (typically 10,000 insertions) although the cost is lower.

GSM
Groupe Systemes Mobile, the standard adopted by 18 EU countries for mobile telephones. This number is increasing as several non-EU countries are considering adoption> GSM holds the hope of becoming the worldwide standard.

Ground (GND)
The ISO standard designation for the ground circuit presented on one contact of a smart card.

GUI
Graphical User Interface.

Hex (Hexadecimal)
The number sequence of 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,A,B,C,D,E,F representing base 16.

Holomagnetics
A magnetic stripe security feature developed by Control Module Inc., formed in 1969.
The technology was invented in 1992 and involves reading a holographic image embedded on top of the existing magnetic stripe. This image is encoded using a patented algorithm to encrypt it as a 'unique' optical signature and it is suggested that only 1 in 50 million cards will ever have the same pattern.

Hot List
A list of suspicious card numbers that is used to detect lost or stolen cards, for example, within an EFTPoS system. Usually operating off-line, to a back office host.

IC Card
Integrated Circuit Card.

ICC
Integrated Circuit Card.

ICMA
International Card Manufacturing Association. Otherwise known as ICMA, is a worldwide organisation dedicated to the global production, technology and security issues of plastic card manufacturers and related industry suppliers. They hold an annual conference during Autumn and publish 'Card Manufacturing'. ICMA are more involved with card manufacturing and not hardware solutions.

IFDs
Interface Devices used for smart cards.

ISDN
Integrated Services Digital Network - Allows data to be sent along a telephone line without having to be converted to an analogue signal.

IEC
International Electrotechnical Commission. The electrotechnical counterpart of ISO, comprising committees in 43 countries in which standards or reports are approved if not more than 20% of the national committees cast a negative vote.

IFD
Interface Device.

I/O
Data Input / Output communication.

Inductive Coupling
Used in contactless smart cards. A coil is embedded within the surface of the card and also in the card reader. When an electrical current is passed through the coil in the card reader, a magnetic field is created and through induction, when the card is held by the reader, a current is produced within the smart card.

Insult Rate
The percentage of occasions when a valid user is rejected by a biometric or other security system.

ISO
The International Organisation for Standardisation comprising national standards bodies of 88 countries. Approval is based on acceptance by more than 75% of member bodies. Note that WD - Working Draft, CD - Committee Draft, DIS -Draft International Standard, WG - Working Group, TC - Technical Committee. [ETSI].

ISO 3554
Bank Card Standard

ISO 7810
Identification cards - Physical characteristics.

ISO 7811
Identification cards - Recording technique tracks 1,2 and 3, Embossing.

ISO 7812
Identification cards - Numbering systems.

ISO 7816
The ISO standard for contact smart cards, which has six parts.
Part 1 - Physical dimensions.
Part 2 - Contact locations.
Part 3 - Electrical specifications.
Part 4 - Commands for interchange.
Part 5 - Applications identification.
Part 6 - Data elements for specific applications.

ISO 9564
Identification cards - Banking PIN management and security.

ISO 10375
Identification cards - Testing methods.

ISO 10536
The ISO standard for contact-less smart cards - Described as 'Close Coupling' which refers to a few millimetres. The frequency is 4.91MHz.
Part 1 - Physical characteristics.
Part 2 - Dimension and location of coupling areas.
Part 3 - Electronic signals.

ISO 14443 Type 'A' and 'B'
The ISO standard for contact-less smart cards - Described as 'Proximity' which refers to less than 100 millimetres. This is a draft standard suggesting 13.56MHz.

ISO 15693
The ISO standard for contact-less smart cards - Described as 'Vicinity' which refers to less than 100 millimetres at a frequency of 125KHz. ISO18000 is an important application standard relating to this subject area.

ISO Card
A plastic card with the standard ISO size of 86mm x 54mm x 0.76mm.

IVU
In Vehicle Unit for a data terminal for barcode scanning or payment

JAVA
Java is an object oriented programming language loosely based on C++ and designed primarily for dynamic and changeable hardware. The main advantages are 1. programs take up less memory. 2. It allows progressive updating and addition of new applications. 3. Java reduces the risk of multiple applications on one card interfering with each other. 4. We should now see some good smart card developer tools on the market.

JEIDA
Japan Electronics Industry Development Association. PCMCIA

JIS
Japan Industry Standard (similar to ISO, specific to Japan).

Jitter
Jitter is the variation in bit length from one bit to the next. If a bit period were 1,000 microseconds (for example), we cannot assume that other bit periods on the same magnetic stripe will be identical. This is due to the condition of the stripe, head wear, quality of head to card contact, card acceleration / deceleration, imperfect read/write circuitry and poor original encoding. The ISO 7811-2 specification details the permitted jitter on each track and for new / used cards, which is in the range of 5-15% bit-to-bit jitter. Poor mechanical design (motors, belts and toothed gears) all contribute to jitter.

Kb
Kilobit. This is 1024 bits. [Bit].

KB
Kilobytes. This is 1024 bytes. [Byte].

Key
The final component to a cryptographic algorithm. [Public / Private Key].

Key Length.
The number of bits comprising a key.

LAN
Local Area Network, for example internal office to office. [WAN]

Landing Contact Reader
A smart card acceptor device in which the contacts are NOT fixed, but move down onto the card. The advantage is longer contact life (typically 500,000 insertions) although for a higher cost.

LSI
Large Scale Integration. Integrated circuit technology used for relatively complex circuits involving many thousands or so logic components. [SSI, VLSI].

Leading Zeros
On an encoded magnetic stripe card, there are leading zeros, the start sentinel, the data, the stop sentinel, the LRC and finally the trailing zeros. In order to determine which bits are '1' and '0', the read electronics needs to know the length of each bit. The is managed by measuring the time of the leading zeros. ISO 7811-4 specifies the location of the first bit of the start sentinel on a card to be 0.293" (7.44mm) from the beginning of the magnetic stripe. You would have about 20 leading zeros on track 2 and 50 leading zeros on tracks 1 and 3.

Library (Command Library)
A library of commands or routines that can be called into a computer program if needed, by the compiler and/or operating system.

Locking
A system used to secure smart cards so that access cannot be made by unauthorised persons.

LRC
Longitudinal Redundancy Check character at the end of a magnetically encoded data string, used as a check digit to ensure that there are no errors in reading the data. The calculation procedure is described in ISO 7811.


MAC
Message Authentication Code - encrypted block [checksum].

Mask (Masking)
A set of program routines written in ROM which provides the basic protocols for basic smart card operations in processor cards. OSCAR is an example developed by OKI.

Memory Smart Card
A simple smart card with no processing capability used in applications such as vending and prepaid telephone cards. The cost of these cards depends on the size of memory and the number of cards, although a typical cost is under €1.00 for a 1Kbcard. Data is written to the card in a binary format, by addressing the start address, data length and data to be written or read. [Kb] [Processor Smart Card].

Minitel
This is the name given to the French Telecom on-line terminals.


MM-Sensor
Magnetic stripe security feature used in bank cards in Germany.

Mondex
An important electronic purse trial, initially taking place in Swindon in Wiltshire. It was organised by Midland Bank (now HSBC), NatWest Bank and BT with about 1,000 retailers taking part and an initial batch of 20-30 thousand smart cards being used. The smart cards were 8K Byte EEPROM cards manufactured by Hitachi, Japan. The trial began in July 1995 and was a head-line case study being observed by the whole industry.

MROM
Masked Read Only Memory.
Permanent memory IC in which data is written at the time of manufacture. [Mask].

M/S Card
Magnetic Stripe Card.

Multi-Application Card
A smart card which is capable of handling many different applications on one single card within a number of virtual cards. This could for example include an electronic purse, driving licence, ID card and health record card. There are many critics who believe that there are too many data protection difficulties for this type of card to become commonplace.

Non-Volatile Memory
A semi-conductor memory that does not lose its contents when the power supply is removed.

Oersted (Oe)
The unit of magnetic field strength (coercivity) in the now obsolete CGS electromagnetic system of units. Although this unit is still used today. One Oersted equals 79.58 amperes per metre. Low coercivity magnetic stripe cards are in the range 300-600 OE and high coercivity in the range 2750-4000 Oe. Data on high coervicity tape is more difficult to erase. The magnetic slurry is doped with additional chemicals (eg., Barrium Ferrite, platelet shaped particles) to increase the coercivity. The higher the coercivity, the more difficult it is to erase data. The access management industry have always used high coercivity tape (2,750 to 5,000 Oe) and it is likely that the public mass transit and banking industry will follow. The cost of replacing ICC bank cards which will be used for electronic purse schemes when the magnetic stripe is accidentally damaged is a major concern of the banks in Europe.

OCR
Optical Character Recognition / Optical Character Reader.

On/Off-Line
Denoting a peripheral device that is connected to a PC and switched 'On' and 'Off'.

Operating System
A set of program routines written in ROM which provides the basic protocols for basic smart card operations in processor cards. OSCAR is an example developed by OKI. Another OS example is Java.

Optical Card
Developed by Jerome Drexler in 1981, the method of storing data on an optical card is similar to a CD-ROM. Major suppliers consist of Omron, Canon, Drexler, Nippon Conulux and Olympus who all supply cards with typical data capacities of 5Mb.
Cards can conform to either the DELA or Canon standard. Cards are standard ISO size and are WORM. [WORM, DELA].

OSCAR
Open Smart Card Access Routine - a language developed by OKI/GIS.

OTPROM
One Time Programmable Read Only Memory.

PAD
There are eight pads on a smart card or ICC. These are from top to bottom, left to right.
1 Card Voltage Vcc
2 Reset Signal
3 Clock signal
4 Unused
5 Ground>
6 Programming Voltage Vpp (not always used)
7 Data I/O
8 Unused

PAN
Primary Account Number on a UK bank card which can consist of upto 19 digits. The first four digits are the IIN or Issuers Identification Number. Some examples are American Express (3746) and Barclays VISA (4929).

Parity Bit
A single bit attached to the bit pattern for a character so that the number of bits in the pattern and the parity bit combined is either even or odd, described as even or odd parity respectively. Track two data is 4 data bits + 1 parity bit, and tracks one and three is 6 data bits + 1 parity bit.

PASCAL
A high level software programming language developed in the late 1960s, following ALGOL, its ancestor. ALGOL is an abbreviation for ALGOrithmic Language, and was the first block structured language developed in 1958.

PCI

Payment Card Industry standard. The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) is a set of industry-sanctioned requirements for improving payment data security. Every on-line retailer, payment service provider, bank or other organisation participating in the payment transaction process or saving credit/debit card information is now required to achieve PCI DSS compliance.

PCMCIA
Personal computer Memory Card International Association defined in 1985 by JEIDA. There are three types of PCMCIA cards. Type 1 are 3.3mm thick and are memory cards (flash memory for example), Type 2 are 5.0mm thick and are generally used for I/O purposes (fax/modem cards in laptop PCs) and Type 3 are 10.5mm thick and are used for rotating hard disks. The card size is 54mm x 85.6mm with 68 connection pins.

PET Card
Polyethyleneterephthalate. A thin plastic card which is usually high coercivity
(2,750 Oe) and with a thickness of around 0.2mm.

PTS
Protocol Type Selection. ISO 7816-3 refers to T=0 and T=1 selection, depending on the type of ICC inserted into the IFD. [T=0, T=1].

PVC Card
Polyvinyl chloride. The plastic most commonly used for bank cards. PVC cards an be embossed.

Personalisation
The card is personalised to the particular end-user by loading data / data file. Security keys and PINs are also introduced at this stage under very strict audit and security controls.

PIN
Personal Identification Number

PIN Pad
A small keyboard device for entering a PIN. The Chip & Pin programme will require PIN pads for pin entry at the point of sale.

Plain Text
The original, non-encrypted data.

PRBS
Pseudo Random Bit Sequencer, used in pay-TV.

Private Key
Used in cryptography, the private key which is known only by one user for signing-on and decryption of system data. [Public Key].

PROM
Programmable Read Only Memory. [EEPROM]

Processor Smart Card
This type of smart card contains a set of program commands in ROM [Mask] and can perform calculations on the card itself. The cost of these cards depends on the size of memory, the command complexity and the number of cards, although a typical cost is about EUR.2,00 - 8,00 for a 8KB card. [KB] [Memory Smart Card].

Power Supply (Vcc)
The power supply to the IC on a smart card is defined to be between 4.75 and 5.25 volts with a maximum current consumption of 200mA. Most ICs only actually use between 10 and 20mA and most card readers use 5V.

Programming Voltage (VPP)
This signal is no longer required in many smart cards. It was designed to provide the high voltage (between 12.5 and 21V) required to enable writing to the non volatile memory of an IC. The more popular ICs use EEPROM memory in which the high voltage is generated by a charge pump on the IC and is not supplied externally. However, the EPROM memory type of IC needs the high voltage to be externally provided. Because of the increase in applications using EEPROM ICs, the need for the VPP is rapidly diminishing.

Private Key
See Symmetrical Encryption.

Public Key
Used in cryptography, the public key is published by the user (usually the recipient) to allow others to send and transmit secure messages, which can then be decoded only by the recipient who posses the matching private key. [Asymmetrical Encryption]

PVC
Polyvinyl chloride - the plastic used to manufacture the majority of plastic cards.

RAM
Random Access Memory. [Volatile Memory].

Reset Signal (RST)
The reset signal is asserted by the interface device and ISO defines three reset modes, internal reset, active low reset and synchronous high active reset. Most ICs operate using the active low reset where the IC transfers control to the entry address for the program when the reset signal returns to the high voltage level. Although complicated, the sequence of operations for the Interface device is as follows. 1. Take RST low 2. Apply VCC 3. Put I/O in receive mode 4. Put VPP in idle mode 5. Apply clock 6. take RST high (active low reset).

RF Card
Radio Frequency Card, a proximity card in which the interface between the card and its interface device is by radio - often used for access control. Omron manufacture RF and RFID cards and tags. Contact our local representative for more information.

ROM
Read Only Memory. [Non-Volatile Memory].

RS232
A communications system for linking peripherals to a PC. The connector is usually a 9 wire D type although not all pins are used. Card readers which are provided with this interface include the MVFW, V2BF, V2X and HNFR series.

RS422
A communications system similar to RS232, for longer distances (KM).

RS485
A communication system for ring-linking many peripherals to a PC.

RSA
An important encryption system, named after its three inventors, Rivest, Shamir and Aldeman and introduced in 1978. It is more secure than [DES] and is used for financial transactions between banks and building societies. Being a public key system, both the sender and receiver each have their own security key. [Asymmetrical Encryption].

RST
[Reset Signal RST]

SAM
Secure Application Module. A logical device used to provide security within an insecure environment. It usually consists of a firmware program which is stored on an EPROM, built into the IFD.

SCIA
Smart Card Industry Association.

SCSI
(pronounced 'skuzzy') Small Computer Systems Interface.

SEPA

SEPA is an initiative of the European Commission (EC) that seeks to remove the barriers to the movement of funds across borders and reduce the cost of euro payments to the level of domestic transfers. SEPA affects cash, paper and electronics transactions. The initial introduction of SEPA compliant cross-border schemes is hoped to begin on 1 January 2008 with the final deadline for compliance currently set at 31 December 2010. This will possibly change.

SET
Secure Electronic Transaction. A joint specification which was published by Visa and Mastercard, aiming at protecting transactions made using existing payment products, such as debit and credit cards. Up to now, it does not refer to electronic purses.

Shutter
A mechanical device on the front of a card reader to prevent foreign objects being inserted into the card reader. It also stops a second card being inserted when a card is already being processed. They are usually software controlled (on the V2X card reader for example), although manual shutters (on the V4KU for example) are also used.

SIM
Subscriber Identity Module

Skimming
To copy the magnetic stripe data from one card to another, often attempted by bank card fraudsters.

Smart Card Club
UK Based (Cambridge) organisation owned by Smartex Ltd. Formed in 1992, a forum for users and suppliers of smart card technology to meet on a monthly basis and exchange ideas etc., There are new organisations being introduced wordwide, inclusing Australia, South Africa and India.

SNA
Systems Network Architecture.

Soft Contact Reader
[Landing Contact Reader, Friction Contact Reader].

Source Code (Source Program)
A program in a programming language, as originally written by the programmer. To be run on a computer system, the source code must be translated into machine code. This is done by either a compiler, which produces a new version of the program known as the object program, or by an interpreter, which reads the source code, translates it into machine code, and executes the code as it goes.

SPOM
Self-Programmable One-chip Microprocessor, developed by Bull, and contains three basic components, being one of [RAM, ROM and EEPROM]. SC

SRAM
Static Random Access Memory is more flexible than the more traditional EPROM. SRAM is more difficult to produce, and costs more then EPROM. [Volatile Memory].

SSI
Small Scale Integration. Integrated circuit technology used for relatively simple circuits involving a hundred or so logic components. [LSI, VLSI].


Super Smart Card
Has an integrated keyboard (membrane) and LCD display.

Start / Stop Character
The start character is encoded on a magnetic strip card at the beginning of the data string. This character is usually a ASCII ';' . The stop character is encoded on a magnetic strip card at the end of the data string and is usually a ASCII '?' followed by the LRC character. Leading Zeros Start Data Stop LRC
0000000000 ; 23456789901234 ? 0

Symmetrical Encryption
This uses one and the same key for encryption and decryption. It was first introduced in ICC in 1985 as DES (Data Encryption Standard). The main disadvantage is that both the card and the IFD needs the same key, thus making it difficult to administrate. [Asymmetrical Encryption].

Synchronous Logic
A logic system that operates with synchronous timing, ie. the timing of all operations is controlled by clock pulses of a set frequency. Generally slower than Asynchronous logic. [Asynchronous Logic]

TDES

Triple DES (Data Encyrption Standard) Symmetric Encryption.

T=0 Protocol
T=0 involves the transmission of bytes of data. The interface device always indicates the command for the T=0 protocol. Interaction between the interface device and the ICC results in successive commands and responses. The direction of data flow is implicit on the definition of the command and hence both the interface device and the ICC need prior knowledge of the command list. It is character oriented, asynchronous and half duplex. [T=1, ICC, IFD] .


T=1 Protocol
T=1 involves the transmission of blocks of data. It is an asynchronous half duplex block transmission protocol. The most obvious advantage of the T=1 protocol is the ability to manage data flow in both directions. Also, there is an ability to block chains of data such that an arbitrarily large block of data may be transferred as the result of a single command . T=1 also removes the master/slave relationship were the interface device always initiates a command to which the ICC responds. It is block oriented, asynchronous and half duplex. [T=0, ICC, IFD]

T&E Card
Travel and Entertainment Card, for example AMEX.

Track (Track 1,2,3)
The magnetic stripe on a card consists of three tracks, numbered from top to bottom as track 1,2 and 3. Track 1 can store alphanumeric data at 210 bpi and track 2 can store only numeric data at 75 bpi and track three can store only numeric data at 210 bpi. Retail banking applications normally only use track 2 and 3. Access control applications normally only use track 2. Each track can store, track 1 - 76, track 2 - 40, track 3 - 107 characters.

TTL
Transistor Transistor Logic - Is the most widely used type of integrated logic circuit for high-speed applications and tends to be regarded as a standard against which all other logic circuits are judged. TTL is characterised by medium power dissipation and good immunity to background electrical noise.
Logic zero =< 0.8VDC and logic one =>2.4VDC.

UIM
User Identification Module

USB
Universal Serial Bus, four wire interface.

USIM
Universal Subscriber Identity Module

VAN
Value Added Network.

Vcc
[Power Supply Vcc]

VLSI
Very Large Scale Integration. Integrated circuit technology used for very complex circuits involving many millions or so logic components. [LSI, SSI].

VPP
[Programming Voltage VPP]

VISANet
The worldwide network for data exchange operated by VISA International.

VM
Virtual Machine - microprocessor simulated in software.

Volatile Memory
A semi-conductor memory that loses its contents when the power supply is removed.

WAN
Wide Area Network, for example building to building. [LAN]

Watermark Magnetics
A magnetic stripe security feature developed by Thorn Security Science International Ltd in Swindon, Wiltshire. The system involves encoding a non-erasable 10 digit number on track zero which is located above track one. Watermark magnetics can stop card skimming. Layout of watermark data is usually as follows.

LZ SB SS WM SS TZ
LZ Leading Zeros (8 min, 16 max.)
SB Synchronising Bit 1 bit
SS Start Sentinel 10 bits
WM Watermark Code 10 bytes (characters)
SS Stop Sentinel 1 bit
TZ Trailing Zeros (33 min, 41 max.)
This format may change for certain applications. Contact TSSI for details.

Weigand Wire
A non-contact security system used in access control, which involves the use of plastic cards into which have been embedded magnetic wires in a coded format. Essentially a magnetic barcode which generates a biniary code.

White List
Opposite to Black List. A database containing a list of authorised card numbers.

Wired Logic Card
Alternative name given to an ICC memory card.

WORM
Write Once, Read Many times - for example the Optical Card or CD-ROM technology. [Optical Card, DELA].

Xon/Xoff
Software control using RS232 signals between two computers or one computer and a peripheral. Used in asynchronous communications. [RS232, Asynchronous].

XSEC
A type of magnetic card security which was developed during the late 1980s by Dr Denise Jeffreys of the 'X-Tec Corporation' in Miami USA. It involves reading the unique jitter pattern of the data encoded on a magnetic stripe card and writing a unique encoded number back onto the card based on this jitter. This number is unique to the card and prevents skimming. [Skimming].