ARQC and MDK
EMVFoundry.Videos where they show X2, the YouTuber enter values to simulate ARQC, there's a MDK key. So why penalize EMVFoundry? In the below video, the person enters the MDK key. Here's one video:
and another:
In EMVFoundry, enter the MDK key as follows:
What is the difference between X2 and EMVFoundry?
- X2 writes the final ARQC value. This will always be wrong because NONCE or Unpredictable number is random.
- The person doing the YouTube tutorial, the ARQC value is computed on today's date, for that YouTuber. So if the ARQC was computed months ago, what is today's ARQC value? Imagine if you enter some ARQC value generated 2 months ago. Is it valid as of today?
- EMVFoundry writes the MDK to chip, so when ARQC is generated, it always generates the correct values. (https://telegra.ph/ARQC---How-it-works-08-21-2)
- You can ask around. Test-cards comes with MDK information, however -- they may or may not work depending on bank to bank.
b2ps.cxm/products/b2-emv-test-card-sets/ (replace ".cxm" with ".com")
What can be understood?
- Please don't ask us for the MDK. Look around and you'll find something.
- EMVFoundry is for educational purposes. Although EMVFoundry implements the ARQC algorithm, if you don't have the correct MDK key for the track2 data, most probably you'll get decline on live transaction.
How does ARQC work?
- Play around with BPTools or NeaPay to understand ARQC. Understand that it's driven by one number, MDK in various ARQC implementations.
- How it works, each card has different MDKs. The ARQC result is sent to the issuer bank. The ARQC is simulated on their computers (usually an IBM Mainframe or Fujitsu Mainframe) and compared with the card's ARQC. If both are same, transaction approved. If not, transaction rejected.
Did you know?
- The reason you wait 3-15 seconds when paying for something via card, is, the chip-inside card is doing an ARQC simulation, and sends it to the POS terminal or ATM terminal. It's not the DSL line is slow. It's the chip crunching the numbers and simulating an ARQC. It takes between 3 to 15 seconds at most.
EMVFoundry (Archives)
https://telegra.ph/EMVFoundry-2003-08-15
EMVFoundry (Latest)
https://telegra.ph/EMVFoundry-2005-Release-Notes-09-04