em|aura-C is a UHF RFID crypto transponder IC compliant with ISO/IEC 18000-63 (formerly ISO/IEC 18000 6 Type C) and EPCTM Generation-2 Version 2 (Gen2 V2), also known as RAIN RFID.
em|aura-C incorporates AES-128 and Grain-128A Crypto Suites (CS) defined by ISO/IEC 29167. The AES 128 CS provides security services for Tag authentication, interrogator authentication, mutual authentication and data exchange during authentication including key update. The Grain-128A CS provides security services for Tag authentication, mutual authentication, data exchange during authentication including key update and authenticated communication.
em|aura-C implements superior security features against man-in-the-middle, harvesting, and cloning attacks, therefore preventing the use of fake tags in secure applications. It also includes tamper detection capability for usage in high-security tags as well as a pseudo-random number generator (PRNG) meeting the highest US government security standards (NIST SP 800-22 compliant).
These security features enable the usage of em|aura-C based solutions in applications requiring a high level of security at a long range, such as road tolling, border crossing, and protection of high-value items. Its features allow tackling challenges such as cloning of tags, eavesdropping on the tag-reader communication, and impersonation of readers. Only genuine tags and readers can be used in an application, and the ciphertext data intercepted by a spoofing device cannot be used to create fake tags.