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Discovery

The Discovery screen is your card reconnaissance tool. It has three tabs: Detect, Collect, and Sniff.


Quickly identify what type of card is on the reader.

ButtonDescription
LFScan for 125kHz low-frequency cards
HFScan for 13.56MHz high-frequency cards
AllScan both LF and HF
  • HID Prox (all Wiegand formats)
  • AWID
  • Indala
  • EM4100
  • Pyramid
  • IO Prox
  • Gallagher
  • Securakey
  • PAC/Stanley
  • Nedap
  • Nexwatch/Quadrakey
  • G-Prox II
  • Paradox
  • Viking
  • Keri
  • Motorola
  • COTAG
  • IDTECK
  • Jablotron
  • Noralsy
  • Presco
  • Visa2000
  • FDX-B (animal tags)
  • Destron (animal tags)
  • iCLASS (Legacy, SE, SEOS)
  • MIFARE Classic (1K, 4K, Mini)
  • MIFARE Ultralight (C, EV1)
  • MIFARE DESFire (EV1, EV2, EV3)
  • EMV (payment cards)
  • PIV (government ID)

For iCLASS cards with standard keys, ATLAS automatically attempts credential extraction to get FC/CN.


Continuous card collection for passive reconnaissance.

ModeDescription
HID ProxContinuous LF read for HID cards
iCLASSContinuous HF read for iCLASS
MIFAREContinuous HF read for MIFARE
PaxtonNet2 protocol capture
EM4100EM tag continuous read
  1. Select a watch mode
  2. Tap Start
  3. Cards appear as they’re detected
  4. Duplicates are automatically filtered
  5. Tap Stop when done

Enable Auto-Save to automatically save detected cards to the active project. Cards are tagged with:

  • Detection timestamp
  • GPS coordinates (if enabled)
  • Active project association

For specific card protocols, use Targeted Read:

  • Select card type (iCLASS, SEOS, MIFARE, etc.)
  • Single precise read instead of continuous scan
  • Better for detailed card analysis

Capture RF communication between a card and reader.

ProtocolCommand
LF (All Types)lf sniff
iCLASShf iclass sniff
MIFAREhf 14a sniff
DESFirehf mfdes sniff
ISO14443-Bhf 14b sniff
ISO15693hf 15 sniff
FeliCahf felica sniff
Topazhf topaz sniff
Legichf legic sniff
  • Card Trigger — Capture when card approaches
  • Reader Trigger — Capture reader-initiated comms
  1. Select card type
  2. Enable desired triggers
  3. Tap Sniff
  4. Position Proxmark3 between the card and reader
  5. Badge or present a card normally
  6. Tap Stop when done

Captured traffic is saved as .trace files that can be:

  • Viewed in the Waveform Viewer
  • Analyzed offline
  • Shared for further research

After detection, tap a card to:

  • Save — Add to database with project/GPS
  • Copy — Copy raw output to clipboard
  • Load — Send to Cards screen for writing
  • View Raw — See full Proxmark3 output