A Solution to Privacy Issues in RFID Item-level Applications

Radiofrequency identification (RFID) raises significant privacy concerns as it allows automated identification possibly without knowledge or permission of the tag bearer. Traditional cryptographic operations, such as authentication and encryption, to prevent unauthorized read are too costly for RFID tags to be deployed into cost-sensitive applications, e.g., into item-level applications in supply chains. This paper addresses the privacy issues and demonstrates a solution which achieves high security while maintains low manufacturing and management cost. The RFID tags carry only ID numbers which are disguised in response through randomization and a hash function to avoid clandestine tracking. The response of ID numbers is divided into segments to reduce database computational complexity. The database stores and maintains the inventory information to avoid clandestine inventorying. Also, the burden of cryptographic operations shifts from tags to database, tags will thus be cheap to manufacture and manage.