RFID Chip Security

http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/pure-genius/did-wal-mart-love-rfid-to-death/7459
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/RFID-Technology-Keeping-Track-of-DoDs-Stuff-05816/
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/14.05/rfid.html

RDIF (radio frequency identification) chips use electromagnetic fields to wirelessly transfer information.  RFID chips are used for tracking and identification purposes.  RFID chips contain electronically stored data, which may be read from several feet away.  RFID chips can be implanted in anything, and have been used as wireless access keys for buildings or starting cars, to track cars and pharmaceuticals throughout production, identify livestock and pets, and can even be put into people.  Passports, some driver’s licenses, and credit cards contain RDIF chips now as well.

In 2005, Wal-Mart started requiring its top 100 vendors to use RFID tags on all shipments, in hopes of having a more efficient supply chain.  This would be done by using an RFID-based electronic product code, or EPC. The electronic code would allow businesses to track shipments and inventory automatically through a system of tags and sensors. It was a potential replacement for the manual scanning of bar codes. 

Although this technology sounds like it would make things much easier and more efficient, RFID tags cost much more money than traditional bar codes.  Wal-Mart was forcing their suppliers to spend their own money on this new inventory system, which was not being used by other companies.  This meant that companies had to have two different inventory systems as well.

This technology ended up not working out so well for Wal-Mart, as it was costly and they encountered pushback from their suppliers.  However, Wal-Mart really helped propel the technology forward, and other industries picked up ideas for their own RFID implementation.

The US Department of Defense also uses RFID tags to track their shipments and inventory.  In this case, security of RFID tags is a major concern.   RFID tags can be hacked, and the information could potentially go anywhere. 

RFID signals can be encrypted, making it more difficult for unauthorized access.  However, most commercial RFID chips don’t contain encryptions, and that increases the cost of the chip.  Some RFID chips have writable memory, which is even worse; data on the chip can be tampered with.  In the early stages of RFID manufacturing, security wasn’t even built into the chips.

RFID readers are now commercially available, which means anyone can purchase one.  RFID manufacturers also sell software that enables RFID readers to connect to computers.  This is how people are able to write information onto RFID tags.  Although writable RFID chips can be locked, they sometimes aren’t because companies don’t know how the chips work or the data needs to be overwritten frequently.

With RFID chips becoming more and more popular, security needs to be key in manufacturer’s minds.  People may not even know that they are carrying RFID tags around in their pockets every day, and their data could be lost to hackers without their knowledge.