An applied cybersecurity research project exploring smartphone-based access control emulation (13.56 MHz High Frequency) to replace legacy physical RFID badges with Android devices.

Protocol & Architecture Analysis

Investigated Android Host Card Emulation (HCE) alongside ISO/IEC 14443 and MIFARE standards. Analyzed hardware layer constraints, comparing HF (13.56 MHz) compatibility with non-emulatable LF (125 kHz EM4100) systems.

Security Frameworks & Mobile Constraints

Identified restrictions enforced by mobile operating systems regarding Host Card Emulation. While payment card emulation utilizes the hardware Secure Element (SE) / Trusted Execution Environment (TEE), proprietary access control protocols often lack standardized OS-level HCE APIs for challenge-response authentication.

Risk Evaluation

Evaluated system-level modifications (rooting) required to directly control the NFC stack, assessing associated attack vectors including compromised keystores, malware exposure, and potential card cloning threats.