DOS Attack Scare Follows RFID Virus

Filed in archive Tags and Readers on April 13, 2006

It was only recently that the scare of RFID virus died down when vendors dismissed the possibility of RFID virus by saying that the amount of memory in the tags was too small to cause any such thing and now researchers at Australia's Edith Cowan University have confirmed that Generation One RFID tags can be breached to cause a denial of service (DOS) on the tags by making use of cheap store bought radio transmitters. The study proved that the DOS attack on the actual tags would cause them to enter an error state that could allow someone to input incorrect prices or alter location and destination parameters.

The Generation One tags are being currently deployed by the U.S. Department of Defense and many Australian organizations who are engaged in RFID trials are operating in 902-938 MHz range.

Ken Wild, senior support engineer at the School of Computer and information science at the university pointed out that the information protocols the tags are using have been simplified to such an extent that it has left them with loopholes. He further added that these tags have been designed to run on low power with an extended frequency range which leaves no room for sophisticated and secure communications protocol.

It seems that controversies are a part and parcel of this technology which now and then keeps on trying to tarnish its image. I hope this time also RFID comes out of this controversy unscathed.