SBIR Phase I: Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Security and Protection

This Small Business Innovative Research Phase I project addresses the topic of RFID protection. While RFIDs are now being used on commercial items and personnel for the purpose of management and control, there are security issues which remain unresolved. The digital data stored in an RFID may be encrypted so as to defeat an unauthorized reader interface, but the current technology is not able to prevent the RFID from being physically maneuvered, thereby resulting in a faked device. The work proposed adds security to an RFID tag by protecting it against unlawful disturbances. The technology utilizes the remote sensing technique, wherein a local magnetic pattern is recognized and thus unlikely to be faked or counterfeited once installed. The technology is inexpensive, since the sensor can be integrated with the tag. Security status can be reported in real time for an active RFID tag, or passively reported whenever interrogated by a reader device. For example, RFID tags will soon be applied to passports, postal parcels and commercial packages. Shoplifting and employee theft are serious crimes that continue to negatively impact the bottom-line profits of many retailers. RFID tags are now installed with merchandise for the purpose of management and control, but they are ineffective in abating shoplifting and employee theft. To aid homeland security RFID tags are now routinely used to track the journey of a cargo container traveling from one seaport to another, but there exists no ability to determine if they are removed and transferred from one container to another.