Cryptnox PIV Smart Card Technical Specifications

PIV — FIPS 201 / NIST SP 800-73-4 Specifications

Execution Environment

  • NXP SmartMX3 P71 secure element, Java Card platform — JCOP 4.5 on P71D600 (PIV-only, FIDO2 + PIV, and FIDO2 + PIV + MIFARE DESFire EV3 16K cards) or JCOP 4 on P71D321 (FIDO2 + PIV + MIFARE DESFire EV2 4K card)
  • PIV applet: — NIST SP 800-73-4 / SP 800-78-4 conformant implementation of the FIPS 201-3 Personal Identity Verification (PIV) data model

PIV applet characteristics

  • Personal Identity Verification (PIV) card application per NIST FIPS 201-3 — SP 800-73-4 data model and command interface, SP 800-78-4 cryptographic algorithms
  • Four PIV key slots: 9A (PIV authentication), 9C (digital signature), 9D (key management), 9E (card authentication)
  • RSA-4096, RSA-2048, ECC P-256 and ECC P-384 — on-card key generation; private keys never leave the secure element
  • NFC (ISO/IEC 14443 Type A) contactless and ISO/IEC 7816 contact interfaces
  • Passive card — no battery; powered by the reader’s RF field

Card management & secure channel — SCP03

All Cryptnox PIV smart cards are managed over the GlobalPlatform SCP03 secure channel.

Operating system compatibility (PIV)

  • Windows 10/11: native PIV smart-card logon (Windows mini-driver / Base CSP)
  • macOS: PIV via CryptoTokenKit / OpenSC
  • Linux: PIV via OpenSC / PKCS#11

Works with standard PC/SC smart-card readers and NFC readers — see the Cryptnox card readers.

Card body

  • ISO/IEC 7810 ID-1 format (CR80, credit-card size)
  • Blank white PVC face, ready for ID card printers (dye-sublimation or thermal transfer) — printable as a photo ID badge
  • Durability: ISO 7816 / 14443 smart-card lifecycle — typically rated for 500,000+ contactless transactions

Certifications

Each part of the card is certified independently; there is no single whole-card certification.

Chip & platform (Common Criteria)

  • PIV-only, FIDO2 + PIV, and FIDO2 + PIV + MIFARE DESFire EV3 16K cards — JCOP 4.5 on P71D600: secure controller NXP N7122 A1, Common Criteria EAL6 augmented (ALC_FLR.1, ASE_TSS.2) — BSI-DSZ-CC-1149-V4-2025; platform JCOP 4.5 P71, Common Criteria EAL6 augmentedNSCIB-CC-2300127-02
  • FIDO2 + PIV + MIFARE DESFire EV2 4K card — JCOP 4 on P71D321: secure controller NXP N7121 B1, Common Criteria certified (composed with BSI-DSZ-CC-1136-V5-2026); platform JCOP 4 P71, Common Criteria EAL6 augmentedNSCIB-CC-2300172-02
  • AIS-31 compliant true random number generator (chip-level)

Applet-level certification

  • PIV applet: built from the same codebase that was certified under FIPS 140-3 (NIST CMVP certificate #5280), NIST SP 800-73-4 / SP 800-78-4 conformant. The applet is not deployed in the configuration covered by that certificate, and Cryptnox does not claim any FIPS certification at this stage. Card management uses SCP03.
  • On the FIDO2 + PIV + MIFARE DESFire EV2 4K card the applet is the same validated version, running on P71D321 — the underlying platform differs from the validated P71D600 configuration. The FIDO2 + PIV + MIFARE DESFire EV3 16K card runs on P71D600, the platform the module was validated on; as a multi-application configuration Cryptnox does not claim any FIPS certification for the finished card at this stage.

FIPS status (background)

  • The PIV applet is built from the same codebase that was certified under FIPS 140-3 (NIST CMVP certificate #5280).
  • Cards on the JCOP 4.5 platform are built on NXP JCOP 4.5 (P71D600) hardware that has been certified under FIPS 140-3 (NIST CMVP certificate #4679).
  • The cards are not deployed in the configurations covered by those certificates, and Cryptnox does not claim any FIPS certification at this stage. All Cryptnox PIV cards use SCP03 secure-channel card management.

Compliance

  • ISO/IEC 7810 (card form factor), ISO/IEC 7816 (contact interface), ISO/IEC 14443 (NFC interface)
  • NIST FIPS 201-3 (PIV); NIST SP 800-73-4 / SP 800-78-4
  • Supports deployments aligned with OMB M-22-09, NIST SP 800-63B, PCI DSS v4, NIS2, DORA and eIDAS

PIV smart cards in the Cryptnox shop

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