Campus Card Credential Technologies: A Capability-Based Comparison

Choosing a campus credential is a systems decision, not a chip-label decision. The same 13.56 MHz frequency can support very different security models, and a standard alone does not guarantee that a card will work with an installed reader, controller or campus platform.\n\n## Compare what the reader validates\n\nUID-only credentials expose a public identifier and therefore rely on backend controls such as revocation and anomaly detection. Legacy sector-memory credentials add keyed memory but may use cryptography that no longer meets the current threat model. AES-authenticated credentials can support mutual authentication, protected files and diversified keys, but only when the reader, personalization process, key storage and backend use the protected application. A secure-capable card read only by UID still behaves as a UID token.\n\n## Physical, mobile and migration requirements\n\nA physical chip does not automatically provide Apple Wallet, Google Wallet or mobile-access support. Document reader models and firmware, UID format, applications and keys, memory needs, mobile roadmap, legacy constraints and key ownership. Test finished encoded samples on representative doors, dining terminals, libraries and other critical readers before production.\n\nContact CampusRFID with your reader inventory and data requirements for a capability-based specification and validation plan.