Tag: RFID

  • What is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)? Meaning and Definition!

    What is RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)? Meaning and Definition!

    Learn, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification), Meaning and Definition!

    Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) In past few recent years, the automatic identification techniques have become quite more than popular and they have also find their places into the core of service industries, manufacturing companies, aviation, clothing, transport systems and much more. And, it’s pretty clear by this point of time that the automated identification technology especially RFID, is highly helpful in providing information regarding the timings, location and even more intense information about people, animals, goods etc. in transit. RFID is responsible for storage of large amount of data and is reprogrammable also as in contrast with its counterpart barcodes automatic identification technology.

    #Meaning of RFID!

    “Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves. Active tags have a local power source such as a battery and may operate at hundreds of meters from the RFID reader. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object. RFID is one method for Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC).”

    In everyday life, the most common form of an electronic data-carrying device if often a smartcard which is probably based upon the contact field. But, this kind of a contact oriented card is normally impractical and less flexible to use. On the contrary, if we think of a contactless card with contactless data transferring capabilities, it would be far more flexible. This communication happens between the data carrying device and its reader. Now, this situation may further appear as ideal if it so happens that the power for the data carrying device comes from the reader by making use of the contactless technology. Because of this specific kind of power transferring and data carrying procedures, the contactless automatic identification systems are termed as Radio frequency Identification Systems.

    What is Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)?

    Definition: The term RFID stands for Radio Frequency Identification. Radio stands for invocation of the wireless transmission and propagation of information or data. For operating RFID devices, Frequency defines spectrum, may it be low, high, ultra high and microwave, each with distinguishing characteristics. Identification relates to identify the items with the help of various codes present in a data carrier (memory-based) and available via radio frequency reading. The RFID is a term which is used for any device that can be sensed or detected from a distance with few problems of obstruction. The invention of RFID term lies in the origin of tags that reflect or retransmit a radio-frequency signal. RFID makes use of radio frequencies to communicate between two of its components namely RFID tag and the RFID reader. The RFID system can be broadly categorized according to the physical components of frequency and data.

    Physical components of the RFID system include, but are not limited to, the following: numerous RFID tags and RFID readers and Computers. The factors associated with the RFID tags are the kind of power source its has, the environment in which it operates, the antenna on the tag for communication with the reader, its corresponding standard, memory, logic applied on the chip and application methods on the tag. The RFID tag refers to a tiny radio device also known as radio barcode, transponder or smart label. This tag is comprised of a simple silicon microchip which is attached to a small flat antenna and mounted on a substrate.

    The entire device can then be encapsulated in various materials dependent upon its intended usage. The finished RFID tag can then be attached to an object, typically an item, box or pallet. This tag can then be read remotely to ascertain position, identity or state of an item. The application methods of an RFID tag may take the forms attached, removable, embedded or conveyed. Further, the RFID tags depend upon the power source which may be a battery in case of active-tags and an RFID reader in case of passive tags. In context of the environment in which the tag operates, the role of temperature range and the humidity range comes into picture.

    The RFID reader is also referred as interrogator or scanner. Its purpose is to send and receive RF data from tags. The RFID reader factors include its antenna, polarization, protocol, interface and portability. The antenna for communication in case of the RFID reader may be internal or external and its ports may assume the values single or multiple. The polarization in case of an RFID reader may be linear or circular and single or multiple protocols may be used. In an RFID reader, Ethernet, serial, Wi-Fi, USB or other interfaces may be used. Regarding portability associated with the reader, it may be fixed or handheld.

    Apart from the RFID tags and readers, host computers are also amongst the part of the physical components of an RFID system. The data acquired by the RFID readers is passed to the host computer which may further run a specialist RFID software, or middleware to filter the data and route it to the correct application to be processed into useful information.

    Apart from the physical components of an RFID system, the RFID system may be perceived from the frequency perspective. In RFID systems, the frequency may further be classified according to the signal distance, signal range, reader to tag, tag to reader and coupling. The signal distance includes the read range and the write range. The signal range here in case of RFID systems reflects the various frequency bands i.e. LF, HF, UHF and Microwave. Further, the reader to tag frequency may assume single frequency or multiple frequencies. In case of tag to reader frequency, it may be subharmonic, harmonic or an harmonic.

    The data sub classification in RFID systems includes, the security associated with the RFID systems, multi-tag read co-ordination and processing. In the similar context, public algorithm, proprietary algorithm or none are applied for the security associated with the RFID systems. The multi-tag read co-ordination techniques used in the latest RFID systems include SDMA, TDMA, FDMA and CDMA. The processing part is composed of the middleware which further has its own architecture which may assume a single or multi-tier shape and its associated location may be reader or the server.

    Basic Information: RFID tags are used in many industries, for example, an RFID tag attached to an automobile during production can be used to track its progress through the assembly line; RFID-tagged pharmaceuticals can be tracked through warehouses; and implanting RFID microchips in livestock and pets allows for positive identification of animals.

    Since RFID tags can be attached to cash, clothing, and possessions, or implanted in animals and people, the possibility of reading personally-linked information without consent has raised serious privacy concerns. These concerns resulted in standard specifications development addressing privacy and security issues. ISO/IEC 18000 and ISO/IEC 29167 use on-chip cryptography methods for untraceability, tag and reader authentication, and over-the-air privacy. ISO/IEC 20248 specifies a digital signature data structure for RFID and barcodes providing data, source and read method authenticity. This work is done within ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC 31 Automatic identification and data capture techniques.

    In 2014, the world RFID market is worth US$8.89 billion, up from US$7.77 billion in 2013 and US$6.96 billion in 2012. This includes tags, readers, and software/services for RFID cards, labels, fobs, and all other form factors. The market value is expected to rise to US$18.68 billion by 2026.

    What is RFID Radio Frequency Identification Meaning and Definition - ilearnlot

  • Different Kind of Security Attacks on RFID Systems

    Different Kind of Security Attacks on RFID Systems

    Different Kind of Security Attacks on RFID Systems

    RFID systems are vulnerable to attack and can be compromised at various stages. Generally the attacks against a RFID system can be categorized into four major groups: attacks on authenticity, attacks on integrity, attacks on confidentiality, and attacks on availability. Besides being vulnerable to common attacks such as eavesdropping, man-in-the-middle and denial of service, RFID technology is, in particular, susceptible to spoof and power attacks.

    Meaning of RFID: “Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. The tags contain electronically stored information. Passive tags collect energy from a nearby RFID reader’s interrogating radio waves. Active tags have a local power source such as a battery and may operate at hundreds of meters from the RFID reader. Unlike a barcode, the tag need not be within the line of sight of the reader, so it may be embedded in the tracked object. RFID is one method for Automatic Identification and Data Capture (AIDC).”

    This section illustrates the different kinds of attacks on RFID systems.

    Eavesdropping: Since an RFID tag is a wireless device that emits a unique identifier upon interrogation by a RFID reader, there exists a risk that the communication between tag and reader can be eavesdropped. Eavesdropping occurs when an attacker intercepts data with any compliant reader for the correct tag family and frequency while a tag is being read by an authorized RFID reader. Since most RFID systems use clear text communication due to tag memory capacity or cost, eavesdropping is a simple but efficient means for the attacker to obtain information on the collected tag data. The information picked up during the attack can have serious implications – used later in other attacks against the RFID system.

    Man-in-the-Middle Attack: Depending on the system configuration, a man-in-the-middle attack is possible while the data is in transit from one component to another. An attacker can interrupt the communication path and manipulate the information back and forth between RFID components. This is a real-time threat. The attack will reveal the information before the intended device receives it and can change the information en route. Even if it received some invalid data, the system being attacked might assume the problem was caused by network errors, but would not recognize that an attack occurred. An RFID system is particularly vulnerable to Man-in-the Middle attacks because the tags are small in size and low in price.

    Denial of Service: Denial of Service (DOS) attacks can take different forms to attack the RFID tag, the network, or the back-end to defeat the system. The purpose is not to steal or modify information, but to disable the RFID system so that it cannot be used. When talking about DOS attacks on wireless networks, the first concern is on physical layer attacks, such as jamming and interference. Jamming with noise signals can reduce the throughput of the network and ruin network connectivity to result in overall supply chain failure. A device that actively broadcasts radio signals can block and disrupt the operation of any nearby RFID readers. Interference with other radio transmitters is another possibility to prevent a reader from discovering and polling tags.

    Spoofing: In the context of RFID technology, spoofing is an activity whereby a forged tag masquerades as a valid tag and thereby gains an illegitimate advantage. Tag cloning is a kind of spoofing attack that captures the data from a valid tag, and then creates a copy of the captured sample with a blank tag.

    Replay Attack: In replay attack, an attacker intercepts communication between a RFID reader and a tag to capture a valid RFID signal. At a later time, this recorded signal is re-entered into the system when the attacker receives a query from the reader. Since the data appears valid, it will be accepted by the system.

    Virus: If a RFID tag is infected with a computer virus, this particular RFID virus could use SQL injection to attack the backend servers and eventually bring an entire RFID system down.

    Power Analysis: Power analysis is a form of side-channel attack, which intends to crack passwords through analyzing the changes of power consumption of a device. It has been proven that the power consumption patterns are different when the tag received correct and incorrect password bits.

    Impersonation: An adversary can query to a tag and a reader in RFID systems. By this property, one can impersonate the target tag or the legitimate reader. When a target tag communicates with a legitimate reader, an adversary can collect the messages being sent to the reader from the tag. With the message, the adversary makes a clone tag in which information of a target tag is stored. When the legitimate reader sends a query, the clone tag can reply the message in response, using the information of a target tag. Then the legitimate reader may consider the clone tag as a legitimate one.

    Information Leakage: If RFID systems are used widely, users will have various tagged objects. Some of objects such as expensive products and medicine store quite personal and sensitive information that the user does not want anyone to know. When tagged objects received a query from readers, the tags only emit its Electronic Product Code (EPC) to readers without checking legitimacy of readers. Therefore, if RFID systems are designed to protect the information of tags, user’s information cannot be leaked to malicious readers without an acknowledgment of the user.

    Traceability: When a user has special tagged objects, an adversary can trace user’s movement using messages transmitted by the tags. In the concrete, when a target tag transmits a response to a reader, an adversary can record the transmitted message and is able to establish a link between the response and the target tag. As the link is established, the adversary is able to know the user’s movement and obtain location history of the user.

    Tampering: The greatest threat for RFID system is represented by data tampering. The most well-known data tampering attacks control data, and the main defense against it is the control flow monitoring for reaching tamper-evidence. However, tampering with other kinds of data such as user identity data, configuration data, user input data, and decision-making data, is also dangerous. Some solutions were proposed, such as a tamper-evident compiler and micro-architecture collaboration framework to detect memory tampering. A further threat is the tampering with application data, involving mistakes in the production flow, denial of service, incoherence in the information system, and exposure to opponent attacks. This kind of attack is especially dangerous for RFID systems, since one of the main RFID applications is the automatic identification for database real-time updating.

    Different-Kind-of-Security-Attacks-on-RFID-Systems