[CeBIT 2013] Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology (SIT) was demoing an interesting mobile technology at CeBIT and Alexandra Dmitrienko, Research Assistant on the project, showed me a demo (check out the video). Key2Share is a token-based and NFC-based access control system for smartphones. A NFC-enabled smartphone user can be granted access rights or to delegate such rights to other smartphone users.
The access rights are transferred using QR codes sent via email or MMS, or even printed out. Additionally, users get a login/password to activate the code. According to Fraunhofer SIT, Key2Share technology take advantage of resource efficient cryptographic protocols that addresses the bandwidth constraint of the NFC standard.
Additionally, the technology is compliant with existing contactless smartcards standards, such as the 14443-4 standard, which means Key2Share would be easy to integrate into existing contactless access control infrastructures.
We can imagine that Key2Share could be practical for lockers at airports or train stations, for hotels, for access to corporate offices, for parcel boxes or car sharing, for example.