|
On a other card we have seen a very simple method to confuse normal software, by inserting several bits before the actual data starts. This data stream can not be normally identified, because the start sequence is not "Start Sentinel". You can examine and identify such data by skipping several bits by changing the analysis start bit.
Data Generation
For data generation, the "Write Tracks" tab is selected. Using the "Character-Set" Combo-Box, the desired character set is chosen. Characters are entered in the In the "Data" field. If "Allow ALFA/BCD only" is checked, only characters according to the appropriate standards can be entered. The start of the text is marked with a "Start Sentinel", fields are separated with "Field Separators" and at the end, "End Sentinel" and "LRC" are inserted by pressing the appropriate buttons.
In the "Data Properties" section, the number of charcters on a track, character set, track density in Bits Per Inch, total number of bits on a track, bits before data, bits in data and bits after data will be shown. The parameters character set, total number of bits, bits before data and bits after data are displayed as recognized, but can also be changed by the user.
|
|
If the "AutoCalc Properties" checkbox is enabled, these parameters will be recalculated and displayed in "Data Properties" while each new character is beeing entered. If this checkbox is disabled, then the "Calc Properties" button is enabled and by pressing it, the recalculation is done manually.
After entering data has been finished, the track, to which the data should be saved, has to be selected by clicking on the appropriate radio-button. By clicking on the "Save" button, the entered data will be transferred to the selected track. The typed characters will automatically be converted in upper case according to the standard. The generated data can be saved in MAG format by selecting "Save" in the "File" menu or in ASCII format by clicking on the "Save TXT" button. According to this procedure, data can be generated for all three tracks of a magnetic-stripe card.
|
Saving the generated data in MAG format (Save option in the File menu) does save all data of all three tracks in a special binary format, while saving in TXT format saves only the data of the selected track in ASCII format. Accordingly loading data in MAG format loads all three tracks. If importing of ASCII data is desired, then by pressing the "Load TXT" button, ASCII data will imported and shown in the "Data" field, where they can be modified and saved to a track by selecting the desired track and pressing the "Copy" button.
Data Modification / Editing
The most easy way to modify data is available in the "Write Tracks" tab. In this tab all available tracks of data which have been scanned, generated or loaded from a MAG file, are displayed. Selecting the track, which will be edited by clicking on the appropriate radio button and pressing afterwards the "Edit" button, the characters are transferred to the "Data" field, where modification can be made. The process of transferring characters from a track to the "Data" field can also be performed by double-clicking the left mouse button on the track which shall be modified.
After the data have been modified, they can be returned to the track where they came from by double clicking on the "Data" field. If the transfer to another track is desired, then this is performed by clicking on the appropriate radio-button and afterwards on the "Save" button.
In the following example, the data from track 1 have been copied to the "Data" field by double-clicking on them. After modification, track 3 has been selected as new destination by pressing selecting the third radio button. By pressing the "Save" button, the modified data from track 1 have been transferred to track 3.
Using the procedure, described above, easy and fast modification of characters can be performed. If unusual editing of characters or ticks is desired - for example for creation of security cards, which cannot be read with other hardware, then the "Signal Analysis" tab can be selected.
In the "Signal Analysis" tab, addition sophisticated opportunities for changing and modifying of each character and even of each separate tick is available.
If "Work on Characters" is selected, by left-clicking on a character, the opportunity is given to change the select character or to insert new characters after the selected character.
By selecting "Work on Ticks" and left-clicking on a tick, the tick can be deleted, the length can be modified or new ticks inserted after the selected tick. So it is possible to work on a very detailed level in order to perform any desired modification.
Writing Tracks with MAKStripe USB
MAKStripe USB is able to write to LoCo magnetic stripe cards. In each writing procedure one, two or three tracks can be written - in any desired bit density, modulation and character set. MAKStripe USB is controlled directly by the software MAKStripeExplorer, and it depends only on the software what can be done.
LoCo magnetic stripe cards are the most used magnetic stripe cards, as for example cash cards, credit-cards, identification cards, etc. MAKStripe USB is not suitable for writing HiCo magnetic stripe cards, which are rarely used - in industry buildings and at airports, where strong magnetic fields exist, which could damage the magnetic stripe card.
Because the data are written by MAKStripe USB direct - without using a encoder chip - it is possible to write exactly defined data to the card, with a defined start, data stream and end. For copy protection purposes also characters with inverted parity can be written and modulations used, which do not comply to any norm.
Through the input of various parameters, influence on the bit density and also the size of single bits can be undertaken. So writing of tracks with any desired properties can be performed.
Also fully unknown data, not depending on the used character sets and modulation, can be read, analysed and written on other magnetic stripe cards.
Writing a customized magneticstripe card is performed with two swipes. The swipe speed and characteristic is determinated by making a reference swipe before the write swipe. Both swipes should have the same swipe speed. Due to this reason, for writing to a card, there must be some data at least on one track of the destination card, which can be used as reference. Therefore if writing to a blank card is desired, there must previously be written some temporary data to this destination card. This process, called formatting a reference track is performed by pressing the "Format" button or F7 function key and swiping the destination card through MAKStripe USB. The destination card which will be formatted, has to be swiped through MAKStripe USB during the time period given in the "Duration" field. The formatting process is in fact a process of writing a simple 0 bit data stream to the selected track(s) for calibration purposes. Formatting will be performed on all tracks for which the checkoxes of "To be Processed" have been selected. It is necessary that at least one track is formatted - which track is irrelevant. After at least one track has been formatted, the writing process can be performed.
If there are already some data on any track of the destination card, then it is not necessary to perform formatting as described in the previous paragraph. In such a case MAKStripe USB will accept the existing data as a reference track for calibration.
Direct Copy
The process of direct copying is performed in two swipes. During the first swipe the source card is read and during the second swipe, the data are written to the destination card.
First the original magnetic-stripe card has to be scanned. The scan process is started by pressing the "Scan Port for Data" button or the function key F5. After a card has been swiped, the "Direct Copy" button in the "Write Tracks" tab will be enabled and the data, available on the scanned card will be displayed. All checkoxes of "To be Processed" will be selected, which means that all three tracks will be copied.
Pressing the "Direct Copy" button and swiping a formatted card or even a old card containing any data through MAKStripe USB , will result in an exact copy of the original card. When a card is swiped through Makstripe USB, the raw data from the last swipe remains in the internal buffer. With "Direct Copy" this raw data is written to a other card "AS IS", without any analysis or modification.
If all checkoxes of "To be Processed" are selected, empty tracks of the original card will also result in empty tracks on the destination card. Using "Direct Copy", beside copying all three tracks, it is also possible to copy selected tracks of the source card to the destination cards - in such a case, the appropriate checkoxes of "To be Processed" have to be selected and the unwanted tracks have to be deselected. In the example on the following picture, the scanned card has data on track 1 and track 2. Track 3 is empty. If all checkboxes are checked, a exact copy will be made with data on tracks 1 and 2 and a empty track 3. On the other side, if for example checkox 1 an 3 are unchecked, only track 2 will be transferred to the destination card - tracks 1 and 3 would be left on the destination card unchanged. If the checkbox for track 3 - which is empty on the source card in this example - would be checked, then track 3 on the destination card would be erased.
Writing Custom Tracks
Pressing the "Write" button or the F8 kunction key, starts the writing process of the tracks for which checkoxes of "To be Processed" are selected. If the "Auto Adjust Data" checkbox is selected, the data will be optimized before they are written to the destination card.
It is possible to select any combination of tracks to be written together - 1, 2 or 3 tracks. Old data on the destination card or formatted tracks will be overwritten if the appropriate checkox of "To be Processed" is selected. The process of writing is performed in two swipes. During the first swipe, MAKStripe USB reads the reference track and during the second swipe the data are written.
Erasing Tracks
If writing to a old card, it is not necessary required to erase any track. During the writing procedure the old data on the destination card is overwritten by the new data. But it is possible to Erase and/or eRase the track you intend to write to, in order to avoid any errors resulting from the previous data and to get a high quality track without distortion. This is performed by selecting the track(s) which shall be erased, using the checkoxes of "To be Processed", pressing the "Erase" or the "eRase" button and swiping the card through MAKStripe USB. The erase procedure will have a duration which is defined in the "Duration" field. Within this time, the card has to be swiped.
"Erase" is erasing the track in the "Flux 0" direction, "eRase" in the "Flux 1" direction.
Development of Own Software for MAKStripe USB
In order to provide the opportunity for development of own software, we are also delivering with MAKStripe USB the library "libmakstripe.a" for Windows NT / 2000 / XP / Vista, for Linux and for Mac OS X with the appropriate header file "makstripe.h".
Using the library "libmakstripe.a", it is possible to integrate and control MAKStripe USB with own code as for example in a application for access control or payment system in a shop and in any other environment, where magneticstripe cards are used and the data should be processed through own software.
The library "libmakstripe.a" gives the opportunity to write your own software for MAKStripe USB using programming language C++. This library provides following methods:
- int Scan (bool messages=true, int seconds=20); // Scan for Data - Card can be Swiped
// true - Diplay MAKStripe Responce
// 20 - Wait 20 Seconds for Card to be Swiped
- bool LoadData (const char* File); // Load Data from *.MAG file (true if Load is OK)
- bool SaveData (const char* File); // Save Data to *.MAG file (true if Save is OK)
- string GetCharSet (int i); // Get Characterset for Track i
- string GetTrackData (int i); // Get Data for Track i
- int GetNrChars (int i); // Get Nr. of Characters for Track i
- int GetNrBits (int i); // Get Nr. of Bits for Track i
- int GetNrTicks (int i); // Get Nr. of Ticks for Track i
- int GetBPI (int i); // Get BPI for Track i
- bool GetParity (int i); // Get Parity for Track i (true if paritiy is OK)
- bool GetLRC (int i); // Get LRC for Track i (true if LRC is OK)
A simple console application, using the library "libmakstripe.a" could look like this example - code:
#include "makstripe.h"
#include <iostream>
using namespace std;
int main(){
MAKStripe *mP = new MAKStripe;
// Uncomment following lines if you want to read data from a MAG file
/*
bool readOK = mP->LoadData ("DEMO.MAG"); // Load Data from *.MAG file
if (!readOK){
cout << "\nError - File could not be opened\n\n";
exit (0);
}
*/
int readOK = mP->Scan (true,20); // Scan for Data - Card can be Swiped
// true - Print MAKStripe Responce to cout
// 20 - Wait 20 Seconds for a Card to be Swiped.
// If card has been swiped, then exit
// immidiately and continue ...
if (readOK==1) {
cout << "\nCard has been read correct.\nFollowing Data are on the Card:";
}
else {
cout << "\nError - exiting programm\n";
exit (0);
}
for (int i=1; i<=3; i++){ // Print Data for all 3 Tracks
cout << "\n\nTrack: " << i << "\n";
cout << "Data : " << mP->GetTrackData(i) << "\n";
cout << "Charset: " << mP->GetCharSet(i) << "\n";
cout << "Nr. of Chars: " << mP->GetNrChars(i) << "\n";
cout << "Nr. of Bits : " << mP->GetNrBits(i) << "\n";
cout << "BPI : " << mP->GetBPI(i) << "\n";
cout << "Parity : " << mP->GetParity(i) << "\n";
cout << "LRC : " << mP->GetLRC(i) << "\n";
}
bool saveOK = mP->SaveData ("DemoNew.MAG"); // Save Data to file DemoNew.MAG
}
This code can be compiled on linux, with gcc, on Windows with MinGW gcc or on Mac OS X with XCode gcc, using following command:
g++ Example.cpp -L. libmakstripe.a -o Example.exe
If libmakstripe.a and makstripe.h have been copied to folders, where the compiler searches for include files and libraries, also following Makefile could be used:
## Makefile for compilation ##
Example: Example.o
g++ -g -o Example Example.o -lmakstripe
Example.o: Example.cpp
g++ -g -c Example.cpp
Starting the console application on Windows, and swiping a card which contains data on tracks one and two, would show the following resuts:
Sample console application, running on Windows
Sample console application, running on Linux
Sample console application, running on MacOS X
Makstripe USBplus - Portable Magneticcard Reader, Writer and Data Logger
MAKStripe USBplus is a further development of our successfull product MAKtripe USB
In addition to all of the capabilities of Makstripe USB, described above, Makstripe USBplus is also a portable magneticstripecard logger, capable to save/log up to 20 magneticstripecards and a portable magneticstripecard writer.
To be able to use Makstripe USBplus as a portable unit, it is necessary to connect it to a external power supply on the USB port. This can be done with the supplied battery holder. To be used with 4 type AA rechargeable Batteries NiCd or NiMh. The output Voltage would be 4*1.25V=5V (for full batteries) and 4.8V for used Batteries.
Makstripe USBplus has 3 LEDs (green, yellow, red) and one switch. With the LEDs and the switch, all necessary operations can be performed.
As soon a card is swiped through the device, a LED with turn on:
Green LED = means all tracks contain data with valid parity and a valid LRC, are empty or contain unknown data, that is not ISO/ANSI conform.
Yellow LED = means that at least one Track is in ISO/ANSI but contains parity errors or has a invalid LRC.
Mobile Logger
To save the data from a magneticstripecard that has been read, the switch has to be pressed very shortly. Immediately after this, all 3 LEDss will go on for 1-2 seconds. As soon the LEDs go off, the data from the card has been saved. MAKStripe USBplus can save up to 20 cards. This data can afterwards be read out on the PC.
Mobile Encoder/Writer
In order to write the data from the last saved card to another card (copy a card), the switch has to be pressed and holded until all 3 LEDs go on. After releasing the switch the green LED will go off.
Now the empty card is swiped through the device. It will be formatted in this first swipe.
As soon the red LED turns off and the green turns on (yellow still on), the card should be swiped a second time. This time the reference track is read.
After the swipe, the yellow LED turns off and the red LED turns on. Now the card has to be swiped a last time. The data will be now written to the card. The Read-Reference swipe and the Write-Swipe should be done with the same swipe speed.
In case a direct copy from the last swiped card is desired, the switch should be pressed and holded (all three LEDs will turn on) until the green LED turns off, the yellow and red will remain on.
Now the empty card is swiped through the device. It will be formatted in this first swipe.
Afterwards the yellow LED will turn off and the green LED on. Now the card is swiped a last time and the data is written to the card. The Reference-Read is skipped in Direct-Copy. The card swiping should be the same speed as when reading and writing the card.
LED and Switch description.
| Gr | Ye | Red | Description |
| X | | | All data read error free |
| | X | | Data contains errors |
| | | X | Erasing card |
| X | X | | Read reference |
| | X | X | Format card |
| X | | X | Write card |
| X | X | X | Busy |
- Switch pressed short = save the last readed card
- Switch is pressed and hold until all 3 LEDs turn on = start writing
- Switch is pressed and hold until all 3 LEDs turn on and the green turns off = Start direct copy
|
