RFIDs And Shoplifters

Could RFID tags be used by shoplifters?

Robert Lemos of CNET's News.com writes from Las Vegas that a German technology consultant believes the Radio Frequency Identification tags "could be abused by hackers and tech-savvy shoplifters". He quotes Lukas Grunwald, a senior consultant with DN-Systems Enterprise Internet Solutions GmbH, as telling a discussion at the Black Hat Security Briefings that thieves could fool merchants by changing the identity of goods, he said.In time-honored fashion, Grunwald had the tools to prove it, unveiling during the session "a new software tool that he helped create that can be used to read and reprogram radio tags".

The basic idea, it seems, is that such software -- called RFDump, or sometimes RF-Dump -- could be used on a PDA or laptop to mark expensive goods as cheaper items, allow underage folk to bypass age restrictions on alcoholic drinks and adult movies or create confusion in shops by randomly swapping tags.

How much of a threat is this to RFID? On first flush it sounds major. But I suspect that if it is going to be an issue it's going to be more closely related to security than shoplifting. How many doors are already being opened by RFID? How many security passes are RFID? Luggage tags in airports? Of course these are probably encrypted but could these be reprogrammed?

Comments

[jean stanford]

This will also be a serious concern to the pharma industry. There is a move afoot to RFID pharmaceuticals to prevent fraud in the supply chain and also to prevent theft. We need a solution to this one.