The RFID System, Essay Example

RFID SYSTEM replaces barcodes and is a time saving, effective and reliable alternative. That is the reason why it is adopted and deployed in multipurpose applications i.e. Supply Chain Management (SCM), Inventory Tracking, Theft Protection, Location based Services, Electronic Health Monitoring for health care systems, RFID SYSTEM integrated travel documents, payment systems and context-aware applications. In recent years, this technology is flourishing robustly due to its extensive usability in upcoming technologies i.e. Ubiquitous Computing, Pervasive Computing or Ambient Intelligence Solutions. RFID SYSTEM technology comprises of transmitters spreading electromagnetic technology in the environment to send and receive signals. The communication is conducted between two elements, transceiver and transponder (Hunt, Puglia, & Puglia, 2007).

RFID System Privacy and Security

The protection related to privacy and security incorporated with RFID SYSTEM cannot be rectified without analyzing causes and driving factors. While ease of use and cost are the most significant factors, accumulation of additional intelligence to this technology requires powerful validations. The technology is already deficient in the race of global standardization; this will be an additional hurdle in the adaptation cycle. On the other hand, RFID SYSTEM is growing with pace and the systems supporting this technology are employing in multiple service sectors that may interact with our life. Hence, stake holders will not welcome any threat which may disrupt the whole infrastructure which may damage market standing (Juels & Paar, 2012). On the other hand, the most successful methodology for generating radio waves is by utilizing an electronic circuitry with an integrated antenna. These certain can transmit radio waves at a pre-nominated frequency and amplitude sustained by a power source. The fluctuation phenomenon modifies travelling nature of waves which can transmit modulated and encoded data. Furthermore, an antenna is mandatory to receive the wave signals in order to transmit them to the electric circuit. The power source is not mandatory for this circuit as it replenishes from the radio waves. However, there are some circuitries with integrated power source to route the incoming encoded signals to required destination. It appears that the receiving points should share a standard protocol to encode the decoded data, this phenomena is called a physical layer protocol or air interface. Patently, the radio waves penetrate in the environment to a maximum distance which is controlled by features consisting of wave power, vacuum in which these waves propagate, interference (if any), and the capacity of the receiver. This feature lays a foundation for radio wave attenuation. Without hesitation, the antenna plays a vital role in receiving and sending circuit design issues. Consequently, the characteristics if the antenna relies on the wave utilization frequency. While the antenna receives the entire wavelength, it is in general the same length as the wavelength calculated in meters. Therefore, undersized frequencies use elevated antennas and high frequencies use squat antennas. In the case of normal cases the transmitting and receiving antennas ought to be parallel, equally circulated and polarized and do not abide to this limitation.

RFID SYSTEM Attacks and Defenses

In this section, the description of attacks on RFID SYSTEM will be presented from different perceptions in addition to available solutions to diminish them. Attacks in RFID SYSTEM attacks the physical interface, RFID SYSTEM devices themselves and the radio waves in between. The attacker of the physical components access the wireless communications nature of RFID SYSTEM, this is a fact that it is unprotected physically and that it is vulnerable to physical management. Attacks on this level may disable tags temporarily or permanently in addition to relay attacks. If a malicious attacker breach in to the system to permanently disable an RFID SYSTEM tag, the hacker will pose a considerable risk related to that when entirely destroying the tag or fetter it in the process for a sufficient duration. The attacker will try to physically remove the tag or cause a physical harm to it in order to make an RFID SYSTEM tag malfunction. Moreover, ‘kill’ command is executed for disabling a tag; the hacker can execute this command to illegally execute tags which will assure to achieve malicious goals.

To address tag removal threats, strong surveillance systems are required to support RFID SYSTEM solutions. Currently, RFID SYSTEM implementers use strong glue or a kind of a mechanical attachment between the tag and the tagged object that makes tag removal nearly impossible and would additionally render the tagged object damaged or coloured to indicate the instance of removal. Some retailers found that embedding or integrating the RFID SYSTEM tag within the product will make it harder for the attacker to remove the tag. However, active RFID SYSTEM tags can transmit an alert to generate an alarm when it is illicitly removed. On the other hand, the implementer should supply adequate readers to gather alerts generated (Kitsos & Zhang, 2008).

According to, interference and jamming could be relegated by building room walls or utilizing partitioned stalls that are opaque to relevant radio frequencies used by the deployed RFID SYSTEM. To deal with the misusing the kill command, RFID SYSTEM systems should use an effective and strong password management. For example, Class 1 Gen 2 tags require a 32-bit password. Other solution propose the use of a master kill command for bulk killing of tags, indeed, although this solution is practical and simplify the killing process for large number of tags at the same time; it poses a  bigger threat on the system if that single kill command code was compromised (Kitsos, 2010).

References

Hunt, V. D., Puglia, A., & Puglia, M. (2007). RFID SYSTEM: A guide to radio frequency identification Wiley.

Juels, A., & Paar, C. (2012). RFID security and privacy: 7th international workshop, RFIDsec 2011, amherst, MA, USA, june 26-28, 2011, revised selected papers Springer.

Kitsos, P., & Zhang, Y. (2008). RFID security: Techniques, protocols and system-on-chip design Springer.

Kitsos, P. (2010). Security in RFID and sensor networks Taylor & Francis.