Protecting the privacy of RFID tags
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Author/Creator ORCID
Date
2006-09-01
Type of Work
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Program
Citation of Original Publication
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Abstract
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is an
emerging wireless technology with many potential applications,
including supply chain management, personnel
tracking and point of sale checkout. Its wide spread
adoption raises concerns about known security and privacy
vulnerabilities, including the ability of rogue RFID readers
to access the unique identifier and data of RFID tags. To
prevent the eavesdropping of tag through communication
channel, methods like one-way hashing, cryptography and
one-time pads have been used; however they do not
prevent the clandestine tracking of tags using their unique
identifier.We describe a novel scheme to protect the identity
of tags, and prevent them from being clandestinely tracked
and inventoried.
Our approach uses inexpensive passive RFID tags, an
RFID reader, an authenticating agent, and a local entity
that can dynamically reprogram tags to protect their
identity. We ensure visibility of goods to authorized RFID
readers at any point in the transit of RFID tagged goods
from one location to another, while denying information to
unauthorized readers. The approach protects the identity
of the RFID tags without significant changes to the existing
infrastructure and obviates the need for expensive active
RFID tags. We present our scheme in the context of a
transit vehicle like a truck which carries RFID tagged
goods from one place to another.