RFID Security and Privacy : Concepts, Protocols, and Architectures

In the beginning of 2003, I found a short article about the privacy implications of RFID technology in a newspaper. It raised my interest, and after reading some early research papers on the topic, I thought: “There must exist better solutions. ” I c- cerned myself with the topic in my spare time. After having developed my rst - lutions, I asked my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Paul Muller ¨ , whether I could write a paper about my results. As the topic did not t into any running project or at least the overall research directions of his group, he could have answered no. But instead, he encouraged me to do it. The paper became a success, and many other papers about new concepts and solutions followed. Now the answer is obvious: There exist better solutions. I have dealt with the topic over the past years. Now I want to share the basics as well as current research results with the reader. This book is surely not a bedside reading. But with all the presented concepts, it can broaden the mind of the reader concerning security,privacy, and RFIDsystems. Iwishthe reader many new insights. There are many people I would like to thank. First of all, my thanks go to my ¨ supervisor, Prof. Dr. Paul Muller. He gave me room for creativity and plenty of rope to work on my own.

RFID technology is already used widely and is increasingly becoming a part of daily life. However, issues regarding security and privacy with respect to RFID technology have not been resolved satisfactorily. The challenges which must be overcome to resolve RFID security and privacy issues are immense; primarily because of the many constraints attached to the provision of security and privacy in RFID systems. These challenges are chiefly technical and economic in nature but also include ethical and social issues. Along with meeting the security and privacy needs of RFID technology, solutions must be inexpensive, practical, reliable, scalable, flexible, inter-organizational, and long lasting.

The book analyses in detail the problems currently being faced by researchers working in the field of RFID technology and discusses the goals and attacker models. This is followed by an introduction to state-of-the-art of RFID security and privacy systems technology. The concepts which underlie the proposed protocols are highlighted, explained, and illustrated using examples. For building open, inter-organizational RFID systems, the classic RFID model is extended and considerations in new directions are explored. RFID systems are then integrated into other parts of the pervasive computing vision. Among the current research results presented in this book, a new comprehensive framework, including required protocols for operation, is introduced. It can be used economically on a global scope, supports inter-organizational cooperation and data sharing, and adheres to all the architectural guidelines derived in this work.