Five Ways to Secure Your RFID System

Filed in archive Tags and Readers on March 27, 2006

By now you've probably read about the supposed virus attack involving RFID tags. One of the reports that hit the news even claimed that cats could "get viruses" from RFID tags.

I have observed before here on the RFID Weblog how much misinformation is floating around about RFID. I've never seen a technology get such a bad rap -- and be the target of so many sensationalized reports about the latest so-called dangers -- reports that border on being urban myths. And I have no idea why. There are plenty of technologies out there that are mystifying to the average person. Yet they are not cloaked with this aura of threat and danger that seems to follow RFID around like the dust cloud that follows Pigpen in the Charlie Brown comic strip.

In the case of the virus report, it turned out to be based on a less-than-thorough understanding of RFID technology.

Still, one industry insider says don't reject such reports out of hand, even if they are sensationalized and based on a garbled understanding of RFID. An RFID system is like any computing system -- you need to take steps to make it secure.

Lou Sirico writes in his column Lou's News & Views:

"The last thing companies implementing RFID technology want to see is someone running around waving a report saying RFID tags are like the black plague. Yet, simply discounting the paper as 'stupid' as a few others have done is not responsible when your boss asks you how you plan to prevent them. You don't want to purchase anti-virus software for all your readers do you? At the Switchboard, we'd prefer to help you understand the scenarios outlined and develop solutions that prevent problems."

He outlines 5 steps to secure your RFID systems. The entire article appears at RFID Switchboard (an excellent new website by the way) -- read it here.

Meanwhile, don't worry about Fluffy getting a virus from his pet ID microchip. There are plenty of more significant threats, such as feline leukemia and poisoning from ordinary household chemicals, that I would worry about first.