RFID Gazette

Some RFID Tags Easy to Hack

Users should beware of certain RFID tags, like those used for remote keyless entry for cars or gas station swipe passes. The tags in question are part of Texas Instruments' Digital Signature Transponder system. This system uses relatively simple encoding that criminals can easily decipher, potentially allowing them to steal cars or get free products where swipe passes are used for payment. According to TechCentral:

“We’ve found that the security measures built into these devices are inadequate,” said Avi Rubin, technical director of the Johns Hopkins Information Security Institute.

“Millions of tags that are currently in use by consumers have an encryption function that can be cracked without requiring direct contact. An attacker who cracks the secret key in an RFID tag can then bypass security measures and fool tag readers in cars or at petrol stations,” Rubin said in a statement.

Read more: Some RFID chips vulnerable to hacking

VeriSign RFID Security Plans

VeriSign is working with epcGlobal to improve RFID security. They are also looking into which RFID-enabled business processes would bring about the quickest ROI. According to eWeek:

Now, also in collaboration with epcGlobal, VeriSign is developing future enhancements meant to make RFID more tamper-proof at levels that include "the [RFID] tag, the device and data sharing between tags," said Paul Strzelec, director of marketing for VeriSign Directory Services, in an interview with eWEEK.com.

Meanwhile, the vendor has identified a couple of ways to help speed ROI from RFID. One effective approach consists of sophisticated "cross-docking" applications, in which products are traced all the way from manufacturing through distribution centers and retail stores, Strzelec said.

Read more: VeriSign Plans RFID Security Enhancements

Active RFID Asset Tracking

The Tobyhanna army depot has begun deploying WhereNet's active RFID asset tracking system to enhance its repair operations for radar systems. The system helps Tobyhanna track the location and movements of parts with a high degree of accuracy in real time. According to Frontline Solutions:

After using active tag technology in a pilot that began last November, the army selected the WhereNet active-tag Real-Time Locating System.

Tobyhanna personnel assign active RFID transmitters called WhereTags to items ranging from components to complete systems. The wireless architecture consists of locating sensors and port devices.

Read more: Army Deploys Active RFID Asset Tracking

Homeland Security Testing RFID at Borders

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is currently testing the use of RFID tags at ports of entry to improve its border-management system. Visitors to the U.S. are being issued RFID tags that track when and where they cross the border as part of the US-VISIT (United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology) system. According to Information Week:

Initially, the government will test RFID tags at a simulated port this spring. After that, the government will test the technology at border crossings in Arizona, New York, and Washington state from the end of July through spring 2006. "Through the use of radio-frequency technology, we see the potential to not only improve the security of our country, but also to make the most important infrastructure enhancements to the U.S. land borders in more than 50 years," Asa Hutchinson, Homeland Security undersecretary for border and transportation security, said in a statement announcing the program.

Read more: Homeland Security To Test RFID Tags At U.S. Borders

RFID Testing in European Retailers

Marks & Spencer, Tesco, and Metro Group are the three big retailers leading the way in Europe when it comes to RFID testing. Metro is testing RFID in its future store in Germany; Marks & Spencer is tagging 3.5 million food and produce delivery trays; Tesco is expanding its RFID-enabled on-shelf availability of DVDs from two stores to 10. According to Information Week:

To test how consumers respond to RFID, Metro is tagging products from Kraft Foods, Procter & Gamble, and Gillette at its concept "store of the future." It will be at least two years before this project moves into Metro stores, mainly because it requires item-level tagging. Metro is accepting RFID-tagged pallets from 20 suppliers in select distribution centers and outlets of the Metro Cash & Carry, Real, and Kaufhof sales divisions, a project that began in November.

Read more: European Retailers Accelerate RFID Plans

MasterCard RFID by Texas Instruments

MasterCard's PayPass line of RFID payment cards and tokens will be fitted with RFID chips by Texas Instruments. The chips will be ISO/IEC 14443 compliant and will suit the security needs that MasterCard requires. According to CRM News:

TI's new 13.56 MHz RFID chip is the latest to be introduced in a series of solutions based on the company's ISO/IEC 14443 technology platform.

The platform features products with universally accepted and standardized cryptography, using National Institute of Standards and Technology approved crypto algorithms, including Triple DES and SHA-1.

The ISO/IEC 14443 standard allows for this increased level of security because it supports significantly faster rates of data exchange (up to 848 kbps), enabling more complex security information to be passed between an RFID card and reader without affecting the user's experience.

Read more: Texas Instruments To Deliver RFID for MasterCard

Tesco RFID Implementation a 99% Success

The retail giant Tesco has reported an RFID implementation success rate of 99%. According to ComputerWeekly.com:

Located in Unna, the distribution centre is equipped with Intermec IF5 Intelligent RFID readers and RFID Intermec tags.

Metro has so far "read" 50,000 pallets of goods and is experiencing 99% successful tag read-rates, while complying with the industry’s ETSI-based European radio standard.

Read more: Metro reports 99% RFID implementation success rate

Avoiding RFID Rollout Legal Issues

A new article on silicon.com points out that there are two key issues that business adopters of RFID should consider in order to avoid getting into legal issues with the RFID service provider: 1) identify key business benefits of an RFID rollout; 2) identify likely changes to existing systems.

According to silicon.com:

The important point is to translate these commercial objectives into contractual obligations that the RFID service provider should be aiming for. Failure to do this will leave the RFID adopter without adequate contractual tools for encouraging the service provider to perform and without adequate legal remedies if the project fails to deliver the anticipated benefits.

Specifying the objectives may well involve creating a hierarchy of importance of the customer's various goals for the RFID project.

Read more: Before you roll out RFID... read this

Sun Offers RFID Tag and Ship Solution

Sun Microsystems has announced that they will offer RFID industry solution architectures (ISA) to fit unique RFID requirements in vertical markets. The solution will be particularly useful in government, pharmaceuticals, retail, and manufacturing.

According to Computer Weekly:

The Sun Java System RFID tag and ship solution is a simple entry-level RFID solution that enables customers to address specific RFID compliance requests, such as those from retailers like Wal-Mart.

For customers looking to do more with RFID and integrate RFID data with their back-end enterprise systems, Sun said the Sun RFID reference architecture "provides essential guidelines through a designed, tested, tuned, and documented proof-of-concept deployment architecture".

Read more: Sun boosts RFID offering

Item-Level RFID Testing

Two big European retailers, Tesco and Metro Group, announced on Monday at the National Retail Federation Convention that they had each begun to perform item-level RFID pilots. The two retailers are waiting for the final Gen 2 spec before fully implementing item-level RFID tagging.

According to eWeek:

In another point of departure from Wal-Mart, U.K.-based Tesco and the Germany-based Metro Group are each working with only a few handfuls of product suppliers around RFID.

Tesco will soon expand an item-level RFID test, now in place at one of its stores, to about 10 stores, said Colin Cobain, Tesco's U.K. IT director, at the press conference. The test uses RFID-enabled smart shelves to monitor the whereabouts of DVDs in retail settings.

The Metro Group, on the other hand, is working with a trio of clothing companies on item-level RFID, said the retailer's CIO, Zygmunt Mierdorf, during the press conference.

Read more: Item-Level RFID Tested in Europe, but Cases Await

Plastic RFID Chips

PolyIC GmbH, a joint venture between Siemens AG and Kurz GmbH KG, has developed the world's fastest plastic chip, which runs at 600 KHz. They have also developed a way to print circuits directly onto foils, which could one day bring about the dramatic lowering of the cost of the RFID tag that manufacturers and retailers are waiting for.

According to Computer World:

By 2008, PolyIC hopes to have a chip with a storage capacity of 128 bits and a processing speed of 13.56 MHz to comply with radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, according to Mildner.

Today's bar code labels, which many companies hope to replace with RFID tags, have a typical storage capacity of 44 bits.

The prototype plastic chips of PolyIC contain at least four layers placed on a foil substrate made of a special type of polyester.

Read more: German researchers move forward on plastic RFID chip

US Government Awards RFID Passport Contracts

The U.S. Government Printing Office has awarded new contracts to four companies for testing RFID passports. Israel-based On Track Innovators Ltd. (OTI) is one of the companies that won a contract. The U.S. Government hopes for full deployment at all State Department passport agencies by early 2006.

According to RCRNews.com:

"We are very pleased that the GPO has determined to make the award to us. We believe that, on the basis of the work that we will perform under the contract, the technology that we have developed for use in the growing worldwide market for personal identification and other homeland security applications, we will be selected for use in the production stage of the U.S. passports," said Ohad Bashan, president and chief executive officer of OTI America.

In addition to OTI America ($91, 736), other firms receiving contracts were ASK Contactless Technologies Inc. ($103,220), Electronic Data Systems Corp. ($136,832) and Oberthur Card Systems ($111,752).

"The goal of the State Department and the GPO is to provide Americans with the best passport in the world. To that end we are actively testing electronic passports that embrace a wide range of technologies available today in order to help us meet that objective. We are expanding the pool of products to test before making an official decision on which products to use," Clarence Jellen, general manager of security and intelligent document at GPO.

Read more: U.S. government awards more RFID contracts for passports

RFID Tag Revenues to Increase 800%

A new study conducted by In-Stat claims that worldwide RFID tag revenues will increase at least 800% between 2004 to 2009.

Led by companies like Target, Albertsons and, especially, Wal-Mart, major retailers have mandated that their suppliers adopt RFID technology in the supply chain in 2005 and 2006. As a result, investment in RFID tag revenues will soar to reach $2.8 billion worldwide in 2009, up from $300 million in 2004, according to In-Stat.

A study by IDC of the RFID market in the US finds that overall RFID spending will jump between 2004 and 2005, and then expand steadily through 2007 before leveling off in 2008.

Read more: RFID Deployment Continues

ChemSecure RFID Monitors NASA Hazardous Materials

NASA is using sensor RFID technology by ChemSecure to monitor hazardous materials at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

According to Information Week:

The network, which NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center hopes to deploy this year, would help detect and react to break-ins, chemical thefts, and dangerous spills.

The NASA Dryden Flight Research Center is spearheading the program, dubbed ChemSecure, to replace antiquated standalone systems that transmit information to separate databases and departments.

Here's how ChemSecure would work: RFID tags are applied to chemical containers in the center's main facility before they're transported to nearby storage buildings.

Read more: RFID Lets NASA Monitor Hazardous Materials

Tesco Orders RFID Tags

Tesco has ordered 4,000 RFID readers and 16,000 RFID tags from ADT, making it the largest ever RFID-related order for the retail sector. Tesco has announced that OATSystems will provide its RFID infrastructure.

According to silicon.com:

Tesco is planning a wider rollout of the technology and may eventually take RFID technology to its international business in the future.

Although Tesco has trialled item level tracking at two of its stores, with razor blades and DVDs, the new deal will see the equipment fitted onto dock doors and merchandise receipt points, and will be used to trace cases and pallets of goods, rather than individual items.

A new report from Larstan Business Reports surveyed over 600 supply chain and IT execs and describes the sector as a "major driving force in the adoption of RFID".

Read more: Tesco signs up for 20,000 RFID tags and readers

RFID Not Simply Slap-and-Ship

Supply chain research firm ARC Advisory Group has found that there is more to RFID implementation than the sexy "slap-and-ship" phrase would imply. In fact, their study showed that 85% of all tags applied at distribution centers require more than the slap-and-ship method.

According to Information Week:

Campbell Soup Co. is one company affected by this month's Wal-Mart deadline that, for now, is using the slap-and-ship method, which has delivered a 96% success rate for case reads at the company, said Mark Engle, senior director of IT, at the EPC Global U.S. Conference in September. But tagging at Campbell's 212,000-square-foot facility in Texas illustrates that the slap-and-ship process isn't as simple as it sounds. For example, Campbell has been building optimized case loads and working with air gaps in cases of liquids and metals to improve tag readability.

Read more: RFID Tagging Is More Than Slap-And-Ship

Gillette, Wal-Mart, RFID

Gillette is one of the first eight companies to participate in the initial RFID pilot with Wal-Mart. Today, they use RFID technology to track their inventory as it moves through the supply chain, from the manufacturer to the distribution center, to the retailer stock room, to the shelf on the sales floor of the store.

According to Tech World:

Gillette is already getting access to data from Wal-Mart and is working with the retailer to understand the optimal use of the data, Burstein says.

A spokesman for Wal-Mart says it provides options for suppliers through its Retail Link extranet site. With Retail Link, suppliers have to "pull" data; a dashboard provides customisation options. That system was used during the pilot, and many suppliers will continue using it, the spokesman says.

Read more: Gillette shaves costs with RFID

Advanced ID to Tag Fish with RFID Microchips

Advanced ID Corporation has received a $135,000 order from the Newfoundland government and the University of Prince Edward Island to utilize the company's RFID microchips for the identification of fish in the Canadian Atlantic.

According to the press release at Business Wire:

Barry Bennett, President and CEO of Advanced ID Corporation stated, "We are continuing to see significant growth in the use of RFID microchips for the identification of animals, the benefits of which far exceed any other form of identification and trace back. This contract further strengthens our position as the top supplier of RFID microchips in Canada."

Bennett further commented, "With regard to our progress in Thailand, contract negotiations will resume immediately after their election which is slated for February 13, 2005.

Read more: Advanced ID Receives $135,000 RFID Microchip Order

Gallo, Ace Hardware to Implement RFID

With Wal-Mart's major RFID deadline passing this month, other companies are beginning to jump on the RFID bandwagon, including E. & J. Gallo Winery and Ace Hardware, both of which will begin testing later this year. Gallo is one of approximately 200 consumer product makers that will be involved in the second Wal-Mart compliance wave. They are to be RFID-compliant by Jan 2006. Gallo's and Ace Hardware's RFID plans are profiled in this article on Information Week:

Yet the complicated issues ahead for Gallo show why the next wave of companies to work with RFID won't face a simple matter of riding the early adopters' technology coattails. In fact, it's only in the coming year that companies will have the technology, tools, and experience to start making marked progress toward the business innovation RFID promises.

Wal-Mart's and Metro's initiatives got under way just as EPCglobal Inc., the industry group developing RFID standards, was finalizing its first global specifications.

Read more: RFID: The Plot Thickens