RFID Security and Privacy Concerns

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is emerging as an important tool with applications in a variety of fields. The major concern regarding RFID is the ubiquitous nature of its deployment that extends far beyond the capabilities of any of the tools available today for monitoring any item without an RFID tag. Many of the applications envisioned have a legitimate use. However, this technology provides room for abuse of people’s privacy. Moreover, since the communication between a RFID tag and its reader takes place in a wireless manner, issues concerning security of such a communication are also important. In this paper we briefly discuss RFID technology and its many positive uses; then we discuss the privacy concerns posed and the security considerations needed to alleviate doubts about the fair use of this technology. We have also specified additional security features that may be required to be incorporated in the tags and the associated readers so that privacy concerns can be addressed Key-Words: RFID, security and privacy, RFID tags, RFID transponders, RFID receivers, wireless monitoring