Key fobs are a ubiquitous part of modern life, providing convenient access to buildings, vehicles, and more. They operate using radio waves and are based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology. Access control systems in apartments, offices, and condos rely on key fobs to secure entrances, floors, and parking areas. While key fobs are the most common form, RFID access tokens also come as cards, badges, and stickers, all functioning similarly.
RFID key fobs fall into two categories: active and passive. Active fobs have their own battery, enabling them to actively transmit signals over longer distances, ideal for vehicle access systems. Passive fobs, lacking a battery, draw power from the RFID reader’s electromagnetic field when nearby. This makes them smaller and lighter, perfect for building access in residential and commercial settings.
Passive RFID key fobs operate on frequencies like 125kHz, 134kHz, or 13.56MHz and are further divided into legacy and modern systems. Legacy systems, using 125kHz and 134kHz, assign a unique serial number to each fob. These systems, dating back to the 1980s, lack strong encryption, simply comparing the serial number to an authorized database. This basic security makes them vulnerable, and understanding this vulnerability is key to why Key Fob Copiers can sometimes be effective against these older systems.
Modern systems operate at 13.56MHz and utilize data encryption to secure communication between the fob and reader. Properly implemented encryption significantly hinders unauthorized copying and cloning attempts. While popular in Europe, these systems are gaining traction in North America, though cost and technical complexities can be barriers to wider adoption. The evolution to encrypted systems is a direct response to the security limitations found in legacy systems, limitations that can be, in some contexts, relevant to the concept of a key fob copier.
