Scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute will demonstrate at CeBIT 2013 (March 5-9) the ShareKey smartphone application with which the user can lock and unlock the doors of his car, house or mailbox, as well as temporarily grant access by sending the keys by… SMS or e-mail in the form of a QR code.
According to scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Secure Information Technology SIT in Darmstadt, apps have already been developed that assign the role of keys to smartphones. However, their widespread use as such is still lacking. With ShareKey, the Institute is advancing the idea, investing in the security of the solution and its flexibility.
At the CeBIT exhibition in Hanover, Fraunhofer will demonstrate how ShareKey can be used to issue even temporary access keys to an apartment from its occupant to the manager for checking, for example, gas meters or other tasks. ShareKey is also considered to be applicable to mailboxes, where access will be granted by sending special electronic keys, without ignoring the risk of any phishing attempt.
ShareKey is based on NFC technology, for wireless communication over a very short distance (a few centimeters) and has a low bandwidth. To open the door, you need to hold your phone a few centimeters away from the lock. Special care is taken for security with other methods, which keep sensitive data, such as ShareKey electronic keys, separate from app and other application data (such as with the Fraunhofer Institute's BizzTrust).
