A research team at the Institute of Applied Information Processing and Communication at Graz University of Technology has developed an RFID-based system prototype designed to protect RFID data in an open-source networking network. Researchers say the technology can use VPN software to provide security for sensing and RFID data. They develop UHF EPC RFID tags using their own communication channels, Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) protocols, and can be authenticated before the RFID reader responds.

IPSec is a tool to ensure the security of IP network communications. The protocol suite establishes a connection between confidentiality and integrity protection between the tag and the Internet via a VPN connection. The study found that running the IPsec stack on the EPC Gen 2 tag is possible to provide a secure end-to-end connection between the tag and the Internet. In this way, the reader can be used as a router from the label to transmit IP packets.
The study, funded by the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF), aims to securely use RFID technology in an open environment. Researchers predict that, with the gradual adoption of the application, RFID chip security will be increasingly concerned about. They cite examples of smart cars and toys that could be attacked by hackers.
At present, RFID systems are usually closed, the data is read, usually only a small number of authorized users to access. The future, the Internet of things will be more open environment, RFID reader will act as a bridge between the label and the Internet. This will allow the data to be in a larger, more open environment.
Researchers say that in order to ensure the security of RFID data in an open environment, some positive developments in RFID systems are needed. "It is very stupid to connect each object and device to the Internet without regard to security," says Hannes Gross, a university researcher. "This will have a lot of bad consequences."
Gross believes that existing security solutions will encounter many problems in a large open environment. The encryption process requires a larger chip, a larger tag, the price may be more expensive, and will slow down the read time. The alternative tag prototype PIONEER uses ISO / IEC 29167 standard protocol and IPsec to allow tags to transmit data in encrypted form.
"In this project, we have built-in sensor RFID tags as part of a secure and open IoT infrastructure." Researchers analyzed the necessary security and privacy features and how they were seamlessly integrated into the existing Of the Internet infrastructure. They also identified the required safety features between the reader and the tag.
"By analyzing different scenarios and their potential risks, we have come to the conclusion that in an open Internet of Things system, the reader is not safe and needs to be a potential attacker." This is a lot of The common assumptions in the system are, for example, electronic product code information services (EPCIS), where the reader is used to identify the RFID tag and return it to the back-end system for processing.
The team found that in an open networking environment, the tag was responsible for protecting its own communication channel in order to authenticate itself and the reader, protecting the label and data. Gross said that there are billions of potential communication partners (other devices) in an open Internet of Things system, so sharing and maintaining passwords is not realistic. Therefore, they need more complex encryption techniques based on public key cryptography.
ISO / IEC 29167 standard provides a variety of encryption suite, bringing some security. Before this standard was introduced, UHF tags could be cloned by simply reading the EPC identifiers and memory. In addition, the 32-bit ACCESS password can not provide adequate protection against theft.
The project focuses on the design of an open Internet-based system based on RFID technology, where tags can be used in untrusted and potentially malicious environments. "We spent a lot of time thinking about the features and encryption services we needed to protect sensitive data and securely exchange information over the Internet." The goal of the group is not only to provide label security, but also to ensure that hackers succeed in stealing When one or more tags are keyed, the entire system does not crash.
The PIONEER tag integrates the IPsec protocol into the standard label with an auto-designed encryption suite. The card reader translates the communication between the Internet device and the PIONEER tag by wrapping the IPsec request and response into the EPC Gen 2 command. In this project, the researchers also connect different sensors (such as temperature and humidity sensors) to the PIONEER tag.