Vocalid® features

Features F.A.Q Download

Vocalid^® card is a smart card that embeds an acoustic interface.
With this interface, the Vocalid^® card can work on any telephone or any computer with a microphone, anywhere in the world - at home, work, a friend's house, on the street offering the same security each time.
The chip, Vic, was developed by Elva, and provides the highest level of security ever offered for a multireader smart card, with extensive possibilities for expanding its functionalities.

Technical characteristics

Vocalid® smart card Thickness: 0.80 mm Length: 85.5 mm Width: 54 mm Magnetic stripe 7816 Synchronous protocol Chip: special circuit developed by Elva and manufactured by ATMEL

External Acoustic Module (EAM):

Thickness: 14 mm Length: 60 mm Width: 40 mm Weight : 30 g

The External Acoustic Module (EAM) embeds a switch, a battery and a piezoelectric transducer
The switch: Simply push it to trigger the emission of an authentication sound sequence.
The battery: CR2016 type providing the power required by the system. The battery lasts for 10000 uses, or 2 to 3 years depending on the associated application.
Piezoelectric transducer: thin ceramic membrane supplied by Murata. Driven by the chip, it emits the authentication sound sequence.

The acoustic interface:
The identification data calculated in the chip are transmitted to the external acoustic module. The card is activated when the EAM switch is pushed. The process is designed for use over a computer microphone or telephone handset.
The authentication sequence is transmitted as a loop in FSK format (old modem standard).
In the field of acoustic authentication, the Vocalid^® solution offers the best performance (100% recognition within two seconds, under standard communication conditions and card usage).

The other interfaces: compliance with existing standards

• ISO contacts
  Vocalid^® works in a traditional chip reader: an ISO reader can read and process the data contained in the chip.
• Magnetic stripe Vocalid^® can be used in traditional payment methods because of its magnetic stripe. This transaction method is the one most widely used.
• Other types of reader
  The standard processes for printing and embossing cards can provide visual personalization for the issuer and the user of the card.
  

Security

Principles
Whether over the telephone or over the Internet, the security of the Vocalid^® authentication system is based on the only principle that works well: transmitting variable authentication data for systematic validation online by an authentication server.

The major selling point of Vocalid^® security
- The One Time Password can’t be read as it is transmitted by an acoustic way.
- It’s quietly impossible to intercept the acoustic sequence either over phone than over an SSL internet session. In any case more difficult than RFID sequence.
Economic realities:
Smart card solutions are already available and provide a high level of security but are costly because, unlike the Vocalid^® system, they require dedicated card readers. With Vocalid^® , the smart card contains the means to become an international standard for secure online transactions.
Stolen passwords:
The security of Vocalid^® is based on a simple principle that is extremely effective in combating online fraud: sending an unpredictable pseudo-random authentication sequence that can only be used once. Traditional solutions that consist of typing or orally dictating a bank card number or access code are too open to fraudulent use. Even if intercepted, a Vocalid^® sequence is unusable, whereas in a traditional model, fraudulent use of a bank card number is generally accepted online.
Counterfeit cards:
Creating a counterfeit smart card, or copying a real one, is very difficult although some say it is not impossible. Here again Vocalid^® offers a solution. A counterfeit Vocalid^® card will be automatically rejected by the authentication server, as it has not been registered (identification number, key, previous cryptograms). And if two identical Vocalid^® cards are in circulation (highly improbable scenario of a copied card), the desynchronization of the card and server that results from simultaneous use of the two cards will cause an immediate and definitive rejection by the authentication center.